Another round! Special inspections and supervision of hazardous chemicals are being carried out in various places such as Shandong and Jiangsu!

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On the morning of September 18, the Emergency Management Department of Shandong Province and the Provincial Fire and Rescue Corps held a video conference to mobilize and arrange for the second special inspection and supervision campaign in 2021 targeting enterprises with major hazardous sources of hazardous chemicals across the province. The conference was used to plan these inspections and supervision efforts, as well as safety risk assessments and rectifications for chemical storage areas, as well as safety improvement initiatives for enterprises dealing with hazardous chemicals. Comrade Zhou Fengwen, member of the Party Committee and deputy director of the Emergency Management Department, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. The meeting emphasized that it is necessary to attach great importance to the matter and strengthen organizational leadership. Joint fire and rescue agencies in various regions have established dedicated task forces to develop work plans, with responsible leaders taking active and direct oversight to ensure the effectiveness of the efforts. Second, set high standards and complete the task with high quality. In accordance with the provincial arrangements for inter-municipal inspections, special safety inspection and supervision teams shall be formed, consisting of departments responsible for regulating hazardous chemicals from emergency management agencies, law enforcement units, fire supervision forces, as well as experts in hazardous chemicals and fire safety. These teams will conduct comprehensive inspections of enterprises that pose significant risks. Third, it is necessary to strengthen measures and ensure the proper resolution of issues. All regions should monitor and supervise the implementation, organize inspections for rectification, and through strict oversight and severe penalties, effectively encourage enterprises to enhance their safety awareness, assume their primary responsibilities, and carry out their tasks conscientiously. In addition, to consolidate the achievements of the comprehensive safety inspection and rectification campaign, to advance the three-year special action for improving safety standards, to help enterprises systematically enhance their safety management capabilities, to mitigate major safety risks, and to prevent all types of work-related accidents, the Emergency Management Department of Shandong Province has decided to conduct comprehensive safety assessments of key enterprises under supervision across the province starting from now until the end of 2021. The hazardous chemicals sector. All hazardous chemical production and storage enterprises across the province, as well as chemical and pharmaceutical enterprises that have obtained permits for the safe use of hazardous chemicals. A comprehensive diagnosis was carried out on 740 enterprises in key counties that have not undergone expert inspections organized by the Ministry of Emergency Management since 2019, nor have provincial, municipal, or county authorities commissioned the China Chemical Safety Association to conduct such inspections; furthermore, the Provincial Emergency Management Department has not provided expert guidance to these counties. The remaining 1,097 enterprises were subject to random inspections at a rate of 10%. Enterprises undergoing diagnosis must implement laws and regulations such as the Work Safety Law, the Shandong Province Work Safety Regulations, and the Provisions on the Primary Responsibilities of Production and Business Operations Entities for Work Safety, as well as the work arrangements set forth by the provincial Party committee and provincial authorities; they must assume their primary responsibilities and carry out work related to work safety management. It is reported that the Provincial Emergency Management Department formulates a unified diagnosis plan, selects high-quality service agencies, assembles expert teams, and conducts comprehensive diagnoses at enterprises and production sites. On September 15, 2021, the Jiangsu Provincial Department of Emergency Management and the Provincial Fire and Rescue Corps jointly held a mobilization and deployment meeting to officially launch the second special inspection and supervision campaign for enterprises with major hazardous chemical sources in 2021. The aim is to continue to effectively manage the safety risks associated with such sources, and to advance the three-year initiative aimed at improving safety standards related to hazardous chemicals and fire safety across the province. This special inspection and supervision campaign will run from now until the end of October. It will focus on enterprises that produce, handle (including storage), or use hazardous chemicals in their operations. The goal is to ensure that 100% of these enterprises conduct self-inspections, that 100% undergo actual cross-inspections, and that 100% of the issues identified during these inspections are resolved, thereby ensuring that major safety risks are effectively controlled. The special inspection and supervision will continue to be carried out in accordance with the steps of self-inspection and self-correction by enterprises, city-level comprehensive inspections, and provincial-level random checks. For the city-level comprehensive inspections, cross-inspections will still be employed, while the number of enterprises subject to provincial-level random checks shall be no less than 5% of the total number of enterprises with major hazard sources in the province, and the number of major hazard sources itself shall be no less than 10% of the total. To ensure strict implementation of a closed-loop approach to addressing potential hazards, this inspection and supervision will combine online and offline methods. All issues and hazards identified through corporate self-inspections, inter-city inspections, and provincial random checks will be entered by the enterprises into the hazardous chemicals safety production risk monitoring and early warning system, thereby enabling closed-loop management of rectifications and ensuring comprehensive coverage both in terms of offline inspections and online data entry. Local authorities will carry out online supervision of the rectification efforts carried out by enterprises in their respective areas, ensuring that the major issues and risks are resolved by October 31. Companies that fail to properly address potential hazards or fail to complete the necessary corrections by the deadline will face strict legal penalties. In addition, Jiangsu Province will take the implementation of the newly revised Work Safety Law as an opportunity to step up publicity and exposure, coordinating with mainstream media to bring to light those enterprises that fail to properly address major safety hazards. It will also use typical illegal cases to carry out activities aimed at educating people through these cases and promoting improvements, thereby achieving the goal of addressing one case while educating a broader range of people and improving safety in that area. At the same time, active efforts should be made to promote and disseminate the typical practices identified during special inspections and supervision, in order to firmly establish a solid foundation for safe production. During the period of special inspection and supervision, the Ministry of Emergency Management will organize forces to conduct cross-inspection and verification in our province at an appropriate time, focusing on randomly inspecting the deployment, progress, and implementation of special inspection and supervision work in 2 cities. 03 Liaoning: On September 15, the Emergency Management Department of Liaoning Province organized a video conference to mobilize and make arrangements for the second inspection and supervision campaign in 2021 for enterprises dealing with major hazardous substances across the province. Ding Mingzhen, deputy director of the Liaoning Provincial Emergency Management Department, attended the meeting and delivered a speech. The meeting discussed the \"Work Plan for the Second Special Inspection and Supervision Campaign, as well as Cross-Inspection Activities, among Enterprises with Major Hazardous Sources of Hazardous Chemicals across the Province in 2021\" and the \"Work Plan for Safety Risk Assessment and Rectification of Chemical Storage Tank Areas across the Province\", and made arrangements for the key tasks related to the supervision of hazardous chemicals in the fourth quarter. The meeting emphasized the need to raise political awareness and fully recognize the importance and urgency of carrying out inspection and supervision work. With a high sense of responsibility toward the Party and the people, and through a more pragmatic approach as well as more effective measures, we must work together in unity, strive hard, overcome difficulties, and complete the inspection and supervision of major hazard sources as well as the rectification of chemical storage areas with high quality, so as to ensure overall stability in the safety production of hazardous chemicals across the province. The meeting required that all regions organize meticulously and carry out inspections and supervision of major hazard sources, as well as risk assessments of tank areas, with high quality. It is necessary to emphasize goal orientation, clarify responsibilities, ensure strict quality control in mutual inspections, enforce regulations rigorously, and carry out targeted corrective actions for each enterprise that is inspected. All regions must attach great importance to the role of news coverage in promoting work safety, and each region should expose a number of enterprises that fail to properly address major safety hazards. In the work of conducting safety risk assessments and making improvements in chemical storage tank areas, it is necessary to fully understand the current situation, carry out assessments in strict accordance with the \"Guidelines for Classifying Safety Risk Assessments of Chemical Storage Tank Areas (Trial)\", to ensure the quality of this work. Based on the results of the investigation and assessment, a differentiated approach of \"one strategy per enterprise\" should be adopted for handling. The meeting emphasized that all regions must adhere to systematic governance in order to resolutely prevent and curb the occurrence of hazardous chemical accidents. It is necessary to focus on major hazard sources, key areas, and critical links, address key issues, strengthen foundations, plug loopholes, and make up for weaknesses, in order to effectively prevent accidents and continuously improve the systematicness, precision, and intelligence of safety management. It is necessary to strictly control access to chemical industrial parks, hazardous chemical enterprises, and related projects, strengthen law enforcement efforts, and effectively improve the efficiency of supervision. 04 Heilongjiang: To ensure continuous and precise control of safety risks associated with major hazardous sources of hazardous chemicals, on September 17, the Emergency Management Department of Heilongjiang Province, in conjunction with the Provincial Fire and Rescue Corps, held a meeting to carry out the second round of special inspections and supervision for enterprises with such hazardous sources in 2021, as well as to organize efforts for safety risk assessment and rectification in chemical storage areas, thereby promoting tangible results in these oversight and assessment activities. The meeting noted that, in accordance with the province’s \"Implementation Plan for the Second Special Safety Inspection Campaign for Enterprises with Major Hazardous Sources of Hazardous Chemicals in 2021\", the scope of this special inspection includes those enterprises that have major hazardous sources and hold licenses for the safe production of hazardous chemicals, licenses for the operation of hazardous chemicals (including storage), as well as licenses for the safe use of hazardous chemicals. The focus is on examining the implementation of the main responsibilities for ensuring safe production regarding major hazard sources at the enterprise level, the fulfillment of responsibilities related to fire safety, the progress in carrying out annual tasks related to the supervision of hazardous chemicals and fire safety, as well as the status of rectifying existing hazards and problems ； At the municipal level, inspections are conducted on the quality of self-inspections and self-corrections carried out by enterprises, the implementation of the responsibility system for ensuring the safety of major hazard sources, the fulfillment of the recommendations outlined in the \"Safety Assessment Reports for Major Hazard Sources\", as well as the management process of identifying problems and hazards online and implementing corrective actions to resolve them ； At the provincial level, random inspections are conducted to assess the quality of comprehensive inspections at the municipal level, the implementation of the cooperation mechanisms between relevant agencies, the quality of self-inspections and self-corrections carried out by enterprises, as well as the enforcement efforts at the municipal level. Additionally, checks are made on the process of recording potential hazards online and ensuring their proper correction, as well as on the extent of publicity related to these issues. The goal is to achieve a \"100%\" rate in terms of coverage of major hazard sources, the percentage of enterprises that conduct self-inspections in accordance with standards, the coverage rate of cross-inspections at the municipal level, the rate of online recording of potential hazards, and the rate of correction of such hazards. The meeting required that emergency management departments at all levels raise their political awareness, strengthen their sense of responsibility, and strictly implement the \"three types of responsibilities\": territorial management responsibilities, departmental supervision responsibilities, and corporate primary responsibilities” ； It is necessary to effectively implement the “five mechanisms” of joint consultation, joint inspection and supervision, information sharing, emergency response coordination, and joint training and publicity in the framework of coordinated supervision by consumer protection agencies and local authorities, so as to maximize the combined effectiveness of such supervision and ensure tangible results in the work carried out ； It is necessary to strengthen scheduling and tracking, strictly follow procedures such as urging rectification, conducting follow-up inspections, and carrying out re-inspections and acceptance checks, and urge enterprises to strictly implement the \"five requirements\" for rectifying potential hazards ； It is necessary to adhere to a categorized approach to handling such issues. Those that have not conducted self-inspections or have identified new potential hazards during inspections shall be subject to strict legal penalties. Those who carry out superficial self-inspections and fail to enter the identified hazards and problems accurately online will also face strict legal sanctions. Repeated occurrences of the same type of safety hazards will result in strict legal penalties as well. Those that fail to establish a clear remediation plan, whose plans do not match the actual situation, or those that fail to complete the required repairs within the specified time frame will be punished accordingly. Serious safety hazards and severe violations of regulations will incur strict legal penalties; in cases where criminal offenses are involved, the matter will be referred to the judicial authorities in accordance with relevant regulations to pursue criminal responsibility. This ensures that the ‘five mandatory checks’ for strict law enforcement are carried out” ； It is necessary to step up publicity efforts and coordinate with local mainstream media to expose those enterprises that have major safety hazards, fail to effectively address such hazards, or have serious shortcomings in safety management, ensuring that all \"three types of problems\" are brought to light.