【Ministry of Emergency Management’s Special Inspection in 2022】13 – Some company executives in Sichuan were negligent; safety facilities were incomplete”

The person in charge is unaware of the explosion-proof areas, and the company does not have any hydrogen sulfide detection and alarm devices. “How are the explosion-proof areas defined in your company?” ”““Well… I’m not entirely sure about that…” During the inspection of Chengdu Taiyu Gas Co., Ltd., the experts accompanying the team, by examining the company’s overall design plans as well as the conditions on site, found that the company’s safety management systems did not specify who was responsible for various tasks, and no fire safety protocols had been established based on actual circumstances. In fact, the company’s main responsible persons were not even aware of the areas within the facility that required explosion-proof measures. “How can you be so casual about work safety? ”Seeing the main person in charge of the company stammering and unable to answer the questions, Chen Xinli, an expert on the team, asked a counterquestion. What’s even more surprising is that during their inspection, experts found that the process unit used by the company to produce acetylene involved the release of hydrogen sulfide, yet the company did not have any hydrogen sulfide detectors or alarm systems in place. “If a leak occurs and there are no detection or alarm devices, can it be detected? ”Chen Xinli questioned the staff on site. “The dangerous critical concentration of hydrogen sulfide is 100 ppm; reaching this concentration can have irreversible or delayed effects on life and health. Its threshold value is 10 ppm ； For outdoor safety work, the maximum acceptable hydrogen sulfide concentration is 20 ppm over an 8-hour period. The hydrogen sulfide concentration in this facility is 500 ppm; in the event of a leak, it can be fatal in an instant! ”Chen Xinli told the reporter.

The turning radius of the fire truck access roads is insufficient, and the reserve amount of fuel in the diesel fire pumps is inadequate. During this inspection, the experts on the team divided tasks according to their areas of expertise and went to the site one by one to examine the company’s major hazard sources. The reporter on site saw that the supervision and inspection team conducted a thorough check, even examining areas that are easily overlooked such as the company employees’ dormitories, kitchens, and rainwater drains. Also at Chengdu Taiyu Gas Co., Ltd., fire rescue expert Li Yongping took the issue of the fire truck access routes at the corners of the factory complex very seriously. With a tape measure in hand, he crouched down to measure the width of road turns one by one, and found that some of the company’s roads did not meet the requirements regarding the turning radius for fire trucks. “In the event of an emergency, fire trucks will not be able to pass through to carry out rescue operations, with consequences that are unthinkable. ”Li Yongping said. Upon arriving at the production area, the expert asked the company to conduct drills for fire emergency evacuation plans, in order to assess the emergency response capabilities and procedures of the frontline staff. However, the results were not ideal. The author observed on site that most people were unaware of the contents of the fire emergency evacuation plan and their respective responsibilities, nor were they familiar with the emergency response procedures and measures. After the emergency plan was activated, the employees rushed into the dangerous area carrying fire extinguishers without wearing any personal protective equipment ； No one called the police, no one organized an evacuation, and the situation was chaotic. “We also found that the only diesel fire pump available to the company had insufficient reserve fuel, and there were no records of regular maintenance, making it impossible to start in case of an emergency. ”The expert team also found that the company had serious shortcomings in its emergency response capabilities; it lacked emergency equipment such as chemical protective suits and firefighting gear, the emergency supplies available at the work site did not meet the required standards, some of the operators inspected did not possess the skills needed to operate fire-fighting equipment, and the employees on duty were not able to use air respirators properly. Li Yongping said incisively, \"Emergency rescue equipment isn’t there just for show; before an incident occurs, people don’t think it’s a big deal, but once an incident happens, it becomes a serious issue.\" ” At present, the local emergency management department has ordered the company to suspend production immediately for rectification, and will impose severe penalties in accordance with the law on any illegal or irregular activities.

Companies were selected at random for inspection, leaving their managers caught off guard and at a loss for words. The reporters also noticed that the companies subject to this inspection were all chosen randomly by the supervision and inspection team on the day of the inspection. This method of verification prevents some enterprises from preparing hastily for inspections, and it enables an accurate assessment of the actual situation regarding safety production in those enterprises. During the inspection at Mianyang Jiangyou Shuneng Petrochemical Co., Ltd., the company’s management was caught off guard by the arrival of the supervision team. “Are the safety valves of the oil and gas recovery equipment regularly inspected or tested? Why weren’t the inspection and maintenance records checked? ”“Why can’t the video surveillance systems for major hazard sources and key areas be used properly? ”One sudden question after another left the head of the company’s security department at a loss, causing him to answer incorrectly on several occasions and looking embarrassed. Through thorough inspection, the supervision and verification team identified various issues in this enterprise: the operating procedures did not specify the process control parameters; there was no design basis for setting the liquid level alarm thresholds in the storage tanks; the status assessment report used quantitative evaluation methods for analysis; the accompanying drawings lacked data regarding safety distances; and there were significant errors in the calculation data related to the identification of major hazard sources in the assessment report on such hazards. At present, the Sichuan Provincial Emergency Management Department has placed the rectification of these safety hazards under supervised oversight, ordered the Mianyang Emergency Management Bureau to suspend partial operations at the company, and required it to complete the rectifications within a specified time frame. After inspecting each enterprise, the supervision and inspection team promptly holds a meeting to discuss the issues identified, reports these issues to the provincial, municipal, and district (county) authorities, and asks the enterprise officials to confirm them on site. The enterprises under inspection all stated that they accepted all the problems and potential risks identified by the supervision and inspection team, and would carry out thorough rectifications. “We identify problems not to cause trouble for enterprises, but rather through systematic inspections to urge them to address their weaknesses and improve their work in safety production in a more thorough and effective manner. ”Luo Haiyang, an expert from the team, said that this supervision and inspection initiative encourages enterprises to conduct self-inspections and make self-corrections, adhering to a combination of inspections and services in order to improve the inherent safety levels of these enterprises.

【Ministry of Emergency Management’s Special Inspection 2022】Summary Edition – Feel free to participate in discussions and self-inspections! ! ! ! https://bbs.hcbbs.com/forum.php?mod=viewthread&tid=3418729 (Source: Huahai Chuanliu – Haichuan Network)