Recently, the Ministry of Emergency Management held a press conference to interpret the Standards for the Determination of Major Accident Hazards in Industrial and Trade Enterprises. Yang Zhihui, Director of the Safety Law Enforcement and Industry & Trade Supervision Bureau under the Ministry of Emergency Management, stated that work safety accidents in the national industrial and trade sector in 2022 mainly occurred during inspection and maintenance at metal smelting enterprises, third-party environmental pollution treatment projects and special operations. This year, targeted special campaigns will be launched to investigate and rectify major hidden dangers in key industrial and trade sectors. Supported by expert guidance services and targeted law enforcement, authorities will urge local governments and enterprises to thoroughly identify major accident hazards and substantially improve rectification quality.

The Ministry of Emergency Management has recently revised the Standards for the Determination of Major Work Safety Accident Hazards in the Industrial and Trade Sector (2017 Version), resulting in the newly released Standards for the Determination of Major Accident Hazards in Industrial and Trade Enterprises. Compared with the 2017 edition, the updated standards feature three major improvements.

First, they carry stronger legal authority. The 2017 version was a normative document issued by a department, while the new standards have been upgraded to a departmental regulation with enhanced legal force.

Second, they are more targeted and accident-oriented. Given the rising number of accidents stemming from chaotic management of contracted and leased entities as well as unlicensed operations, three new management-related criteria have been added concerning safety management of contracted and leased units, certified practice of special operation workers, and qualified assessment of principal persons-in-charge and safety administrators of metal smelting enterprises. In addition, the standards concentrate on major hazards prone to mass casualties across various industries. For metallurgy and non-ferrous metal sectors, focus is placed on high-temperature molten metal and toxic and harmful gases; for building materials, emphasis is laid on frequent accidents in silo cleaning operations as well as flammable and toxic gases; for machinery manufacturing, priority is given to explosion prevention for molten metal in casting processes and combustible gas control; for light industry, attention is paid to high-risk equipment and facilities; for the textile industry, regulations cover layout of staff premises near high-risk equipment and segregated storage of incompatible hazardous materials; for the tobacco sector, key risks include fumigation work areas and poisoning and suffocation hazards during tobacco processing.

Third, they boast greater scientific rationality. For instance, the scope of confined space operations involving major accident hazards has been adjusted, covering only identification, approval and on-site management of confined space work with poisoning risks such as hydrogen sulfide and carbon monoxide. The relevant clauses are more logically aligned with critical high-risk scenarios.

Yang Zhihui noted three prominent characteristics of work safety accidents in the industrial and trade sector in 2022: frequent incidents during inspection and maintenance at metallurgical, non-ferrous and other metal smelting enterprises; new safety risks arising from emerging models including third-party environmental pollution treatment; and a high proportion of accidents occurring during special operations.

He reiterated that special campaigns targeting major hazard investigation and rectification will be rolled out in key industrial and trade sectors this year. With expert guidance and refined law enforcement, local authorities and enterprises will be pushed to fully identify major hidden dangers and upgrade rectification outcomes.

At the enterprise level, principal persons-in-charge are the core actors for fulfilling the main responsibility for work safety, and their performance has always been a key focus of safety supervision and law enforcement. Enterprise principals shall study the industry-specific standards for identifying major accident hazards, organize research, deployment and regular self-inspection and rectification against the criteria, and conduct routine inspections on the company’s hazard elimination progress in person. They shall clarify tiered responsibilities and operational requirements for hazard investigation and rectification across all departments, optimize internal incentive mechanisms, and mobilize all staff including frontline workshop and team workers to participate in hazard screening and rectification. Enterprises must establish ledgers for major accident hazards and implement closed-loop management to guarantee full implementation of corresponding responsibilities, measures, funds, timelines and emergency response plans.

For regulatory authorities, balanced efforts shall be made to deliver thoughtful services and enforce strict supervision, integrating expert guidance with precise and rigorous law enforcement.

On one hand, regulatory authorities at all levels shall improve mechanisms for government procurement of services and expert consultation, intensify guidance for high-risk key enterprises, and help them accurately identify and scientifically address major accident hazards. Last year, the Ministry of Emergency Management dispatched multiple expert groups to provide technical support on confined space operations in 16 key counties with concentrated light industrial enterprises, which delivered remarkable results and initially curbed the frequent occurrence of confined space accidents in the sector. This year, expert guidance services will continue for another 12 key counties. All provincial emergency management departments are required to designate provincial-level key counties for such support, so as to raise the quality of hazard identification and rectification and effectively forestall major safety risks.

On the other hand, targeted law enforcement inspections will center on major accident hazards and the performance of enterprise principals. Where enterprises voluntarily discover major hidden dangers, report them in accordance with provisions and take effective elimination measures, administrative penalties shall be waived in accordance with the law. For major hazards left undetected by enterprises, or detected but unreported and unrectified as required, strict legal sanctions will be imposed. If inadequate investigation and rectification leave major accident hazards unaddressed or lead to safety incidents, the "dual penalty system for one case" will be applied to both the enterprise and its principal person-in-charge in accordance with the law. Strengthened law enforcement will compel enterprises that take no initiative to identify and eliminate hazards to earnestly fulfill their main safety responsibilities.

Reprinted from China Economic Net