On April 19, Wang Xiangxi, Secretary of the Party Committee and Minister of the Ministry of Emergency Management, presided over a meeting of the Ministry’s Party Committee. The participants thoroughly studied and implemented the spirit of General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions, analyzed the current work safety situation, and discussed supporting implementation measures.

Wang Xiangxi stressed that profound lessons must be drawn from recent accidents. We must always stay highly vigilant about work safety, fully deliver on work safety responsibilities, conduct thorough screening of all types of risks and hidden dangers by drawing inferences from one instance to another, adopt targeted rectification measures to resolutely forestall and curb major safety accidents, and effectively safeguard people’s lives, property and overall social stability.

The meeting pointed out that successive fires and other safety accidents have occurred in various regions recently, notably the fire at Changfeng Hospital in Fengtai District, Beijing and the factory fire in Jinhua, Zhejiang Province. These incidents exposed prominent problems including inadequate investigation and rectification of hidden dangers and unfulfilled work safety responsibilities, sounding another alarm bell for all. We must thoroughly learn and comprehend General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important instructions on work safety, fully advance accident response work, identify the root causes of the fires as soon as possible, and hold relevant parties accountable in accordance with the law. We need to draw profound lessons from the accidents, comprehensively review existing problems in emergency management work, identify root causes through review and rectification tied to the thematic education campaign, address each problem item by item, and firmly reverse the resurgence of major accidents. Centering on improving the quality of hazard investigation and rectification and enforcing safety accountability, all localities and competent authorities shall implement closed-loop hazard clearance management for major accident hazards, strengthen on-site verification, and put an end to superficial rectification where problems are merely reported without real remediation.

The meeting emphasized focusing on prominent risks to swiftly launch a special campaign for fire safety renovation and pre-flood hazard inspection and rectification of tailings ponds. Priorities shall cover hospitals, nursing homes, schools, nurseries, factories-within-factories, entertainment venues, high-rise buildings and large-scale commercial complexes. Key risks include flammable and combustible decorative & thermal insulation materials, blocked evacuation passages, illegal hot work and welding operations, and reckless construction that may trigger severe accidents even from minor worksites. Authorities shall conduct comprehensive inspections, expert consultations and cross-regional law enforcement to screen every premises one by one. Entities with hidden dangers shall be issued circular notices, publicly exposed or summoned for interviews as appropriate. Special attention shall be paid to flood-season safety of tailings ponds, especially overlying tailings ponds (ponds upstream of residential areas). Regulators shall clarify primary oversight responsibilities, implement hazard elimination measures, improve early warning and response mechanisms, refine emergency plans, and increase inspection patrols and law enforcement frequency. Frequent joint consultations and dedicated on-site monitoring shall be arranged amid extreme weather, with decisive evacuation measures adopted to prevent casualties caused by dam breaches.

It was underscored that special work safety rectification shall be integrated with research under the thematic education campaign. Authorities shall thoroughly identify bottlenecks hindering the thorough elimination of major accident hazards, fully solicit opinions from grassroots regulators, industrial experts and the public, formulate practical and effective countermeasures, and see them through to the end. We shall uphold the philosophy of source control and systematic governance, address both symptoms and root causes by elevating intrinsic safety levels, so as to fundamentally eliminate accident hazards and resolve safety problems at the source.

Members of the Party Committee of the Ministry of Emergency Management attended the meeting. Heads of the National Fire and Rescue Administration, National Mine Safety Administration, China Earthquake Administration, all functional departments of the Ministry and the Discipline Inspection & Supervision Group stationed at the Ministry attended via video link.

Reprinted from the official website of the Ministry of Emergency Management