Ten key points for emergency management in chemical enterprises

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1.jpg Most of the chemical raw materials used by chemical enterprises are **chemicals; some of the intermediates or products manufactured by these enterprises also fall under the category of **chemicals. As a result, chemical enterprises generally have safety hazards such as flammability, explosiveness, toxicity, and harmfulness, which makes them prone to safety incidents such as fires, explosions, acute poisoning, and chemical burns. Therefore, it is particularly important to do a good job in emergency management in order to reduce the losses caused after an accident occurs. To do a good job in emergency management, the following ten aspects of work need to be addressed. I. Manage people and handle affairs through systems. Formulate the \"Emergency Management System\", the \"Accident Emergency Plan Management System\", and the \"Leadership Duty System\" to standardize various aspects such as the establishment of emergency organizations, the classification of emergency plans, the allocation of responsibilities, emergency response, as well as the preparation, review, filing, training, drills, and revision of emergency plans. II. Establish and improve emergency response organizations. Establish an emergency management leadership team and a production safety accident emergency rescue command center, with the general manager (or the main person in charge) serving as the team leader and the deputy general manager in charge of relevant areas serving as the deputy team leader, to ensure the orderly conduct of emergency management and rescue efforts. III. Establish a comprehensive emergency rescue plan system. In chemical manufacturing enterprises, in addition to formulating a \"Comprehensive Emergency Response Plan,\" specific plans such as a \"Emergency Response Plan for Chemical Accidents,\" a \"Emergency Response Plan for Sudden Environmental Incidents,\" a \"Special Emergency Response Plan for Fire Accidents,\" a \"Special Emergency Response Plan for Flood Disasters,\" and a \"Special Emergency Response Plan for Earthquake Disasters\" are also developed, thereby creating an emergency response plan system that covers all aspects both vertically and horizontally. IV. The plan adopts hierarchical management and hierarchical response. Events are classified into four levels based on their severity and the emergency response capabilities of various departments and plants. Among them, the Level I (major catastrophic incidents) and Level II (significant incidents) plans are company-level plans; in the event of a Level I response, the company enters a full emergency state, while in the case of a Level II response, departments such as safety, production, logistics, and branch factories initiate their procedures to organize rescue efforts. Grade III incidents (general incidents) and Grade IV incidents (minor incidents) serve as emergency response plans at the departmental and plant level. V. Establish professional emergency rescue teams. To ensure the effective deployment of emergency support, facilitate division of labor and cooperation, and improve the speed of response and coordination in dealing with emergencies, specialized emergency teams such as those for communication and liaison, monitoring and rescue, emergency repair, firefighting, and security/logistics can be established. VI. Ensure adequate provision of emergency supplies. In addition to standard emergency supplies such as air respirators, gas masks, fire extinguishers, chlorine neutralizers, and chemical protective suits, accident cabinets can be installed at key positions, and emergency cabinets can be provided in areas with important production facilities. Protective equipment such as air respirators, chemical protective suits, and gas masks are placed in the emergency cabinets, while emergency tools along with chemical protective suits and gas masks are kept in the emergency kits. The purpose of this is to ensure that emergency equipment and supplies are readily available at the work site at any time. VII. Emphasize emergency training. An annual safety training plan is issued each year, and training on the use of gas detection equipment, fire extinguishers, as well as emergency response plans is conducted every six months. Through continuous training, it is ensured that frontline employees know how to use protective equipment such as air respirators, that all staff can operate fire extinguishers, and that they have a thorough understanding of the emergency response plans. VIII. Pay attention to emergency drills. It is recommended that company-level emergency drills be conducted at least once every six months ； Plant-level drills should be conducted at least once every three months, while team-level drills should be carried out at least once per month. IX. It is recommended to carry out accident scenario planning activities. In other words, each day one shift comes up with a hypothetical accident scenario; the next shift responds by outlining how such an accident should be handled; and yet another shift provides feedback. Through this process, the incidents that employees encounter or think of in their daily work can be incorporated into accident plans and drills, thereby effectively improving the emergency response capabilities at the grassroots level. X. Introduce a chemical industry accident countermeasures drill mechanism. Chemical industry drills mainly focus on emergency rescue after an incident occurs. To effectively prevent accidents from happening and nip them in the bud, counter-incident drills can be implemented to improve the ability of production staff to analyze, assess, and handle emergencies, thereby avoiding production safety incidents or preventing their escalation.