Let the best technical experts handle security work!

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Let the best technical experts handle security work! Online commentator: Wu Yangyun. A piece titled “The Work Safety Law is too restrictive!” has been circulating on WeChat recently The article raises many questions about our safety supervision model and system, arguing that we exercise excessive control, in too many areas and to excessive detail, resulting in a \"nanny-style\" form of oversight at the regulatory level. Although its views are somewhat extreme, the idea put forward in the article – namely that safety supervision should take a more professional approach – represents the future direction and necessary path for progress in the field of work safety. Paths are created by people walking on them, and careers are built through people’s efforts. This is also true for safe production. The ultimate success of safety production efforts depends on having skilled personnel; without them, it is not possible to address the issues at their root, and frequent accidents will remain inevitable. Having the best technical experts handle security tasks is DuPont’s safety philosophy in the United States. They believe that safety is a science, an discipline that combines elements of technology and management, and that it is impossible to master without specialized education and training as well as extensive practical experience. Therefore, full-time safety personnel should also be, and must be, those with the greatest amount of technical knowledge, experience, skills, and expertise; otherwise, it is simply impossible for them to provide practical and effective suggestions and recommendations regarding the safety of the production process. The \"Qualification Requirements and Management Standards for Blasting Workers\" (GA53-2015) issued in 2015 set the strictest requirements for those working in blasting engineering. In particular, the requirement that applicants for senior positions in blasting engineering must hold a doctoral degree in an engineering-related field and have at least 2 years of experience in blasting-related work is quite stringent. Many people, including those of us who have been working in blasting safety technology for over 10 years, are shocked. Many believe that such requirements are too stringent; given the current management standards of production and operation units, it is difficult to meet them. Some think that such conditions are unfeasible and hard to implement on a wider scale. However, the instructor told the trainees that we use these tools to do our work, not shovels; without a solid foundation in blasting knowledge and technical experience, ensuring safe blasting operations is nothing but empty talk. Assigning the most skilled technicians to handle safety tasks is the way forward for achieving safe production, and it is essential for companies to change their mindset and assign competent technical personnel to safety-related duties, as this represents the greatest asset for a company’s development. Without reliable safety technicians, safe production is nothing but empty talk. A user from a occupational health website wrote in their blog about what business leaders should do first and foremost when it comes to safety. He said that if business leaders do not raise the status of safety personnel, do not improve their compensation, and do not provide them with opportunities for advancement, it is impossible to ensure safety no matter how much effort is put in. How can we attract talented individuals to work in safety if we don’t improve their compensation? How can safety professionals have a voice if their status isn’t elevated? Without pathways for advancement, there will be a lack of successors in safety work; how can there be any progress in safety practices, let alone a safety culture? To determine whether a company values safety, one only needs to look at the treatment and status of its safety professionals. If this cannot be achieved, claiming that safety comes first is nothing but hypocrisy and empty talk. If this cannot be achieved, security is only temporary and not sustainable. It is evident that assigning skilled technicians to carry out safety work is not only a guideline for future development but also an urgent requirement given the current situation in terms of safe production. Recently, Article 38 of the \"Work Plan for Reducing Costs for Enterprises in the Real Economy\" issued by the State Council calls for improvements in enterprise management. Improve the modern enterprise system, optimize operational models, foster entrepreneurship and craftsmanship, give full play to the role of enterprise employees, and encourage efforts to enhance efficiency through potential tapping. Enterprises are encouraged to benchmark themselves against internationally advanced companies, strengthen standardization efforts, and promote the standardization of management processes in areas such as research and development, design, logistics, procurement, safe production, and sales services, in order to improve operational efficiency. The issue of standardized management for safe production was mentioned again; if a company does not have personnel who understand both technology and management skills to handle safety matters, then the implementation of standardized management for safe production in that company will not be possible. What is more important is to assign skilled technicians to handle safety tasks and to have engineering personnel participate in training related to safety technologies in their respective fields. This allows us not only to establish safety technology standards within the company, provide safety consultations, coordinate the implementation of safety measures, and oversee their enforcement, but also to ensure that safety is taken into account from the design stage itself. It enables us to provide frontline workers with practical safety technologies, eliminate potential safety hazards at the source, and thus offer technical support, skilled personnel, and training to ensure safe production. Paths are created by people walking on them, and careers are built through people’s efforts. When we realize the importance and urgency of security technology professionals, we should take measures, establish systems, and assign such professionals to carry out security work. At present, it is of utmost importance that responsible engineering and technical personnel serve as full-time safety officers, receive training in professional safety management, have established criteria for career advancement and technical title progression, and have clear definitions of their responsibilities and benefits. This ensures that safety professionals have a platform to develop their careers and goals, thereby effectively improving the level of safety management within enterprises. August 31, 2016