Thread Content
Article 71 Upon receiving a report of an accident, the people’s ** authority at the site of the accident shall, in accordance with the law, activate the emergency plan, take emergency response measures, and organize emergency rescue efforts. Interpretation of the provision: This article deals with the emergency response and rescue measures to be taken by the people in the location where the accident occurs. Compared with the relevant provision in the Regulations on the Safety Supervision of Special Equipment, this is additional content. After an accident involving special equipment, the relevant emergency response and rescue efforts often require the coordinated action of agencies or departments from multiple specialized fields. Following a chlorine leak at Chongqing Tianyuan Chemical Plant on April 15, 2004, not only did the improper handling by rescue workers lead to the explosion of pressure vessels, but the evacuation of 150,000 residents within a 2-kilometer radius that was carried out thereafter would have resulted in even more severe consequences without the coordinated efforts of multiple departments under unified command. Therefore, the people who are aware of the accident information **must initiate the appropriate emergency plans in accordance with the law, handle the situation properly based on the conditions at the accident site, and organize timely rescue efforts in order to effectively prevent secondary or resulting disasters. Furthermore, it can be noted that Article 70 requires the entity where the accident occurs to \"take measures in accordance with the emergency plan,...\", while this article mandates that the \"local people in the area where the accident occurred\" shall \"activate the emergency plan in accordance with the law and take emergency response measures,...\"; one requirement is to take actions directly in line with the emergency plan, while the other is to activate the emergency plan legally and take emergency response measures. This further illustrates the differences between corporate plans, departmental plans, and **plans: the measures outlined in corporate plans are more direct, with a greater emphasis on specificity and practicality; departmental plans focus more on emergency response and playing a supportive role in emergency management, whereas **plans place greater emphasis on the role of command and coordination during emergency handling. Upon receiving an accident report, the **responsible authorities generally need to go through a decision-making process to determine which level of authority should take action and which specific contingency plan should be activated. This is in line with Article 48 of the Law of the People’s Republic of China on Emergency Response, which states that \"the people’s **authorities responsible for unified leadership or for organizing the handling of emergencies shall, depending on the nature, characteristics, and severity of the emergency, immediately organize relevant departments, mobilize emergency rescue teams and social forces, and take emergency response measures in accordance with the provisions of this chapter as well as relevant laws, regulations, and rules.\"