Interpretation of the Measures for the Management of Emergency Plans for Production Safety Accidents

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Key highlights of the Measures: Emphasize the fulfillment of enterprises’ primary responsibilities and the proper preparation of emergency plans. Implementing the primary responsibilities of production and business units is fundamental. Article 5 of the Measures identifies clarifying the primary responsibilities of production and business operation entities and implementing the duties of their principal responsible persons as well as various deputy responsible persons as an important aspect, and lays out relevant provisions to this end. The \"Measures\" for optimizing the preparation of emergency plans by production and business units regard standardizing such plan preparation as an important task, specifying that the process involves forming a planning team, conducting risk assessment and surveys of emergency resources, establishing an emergency plan framework, carrying out reviews, and finalizing the plans for publication ； Clarify the principles for developing emergency response plans, simplify their structure and content, and emphasize that production and business units must prepare emergency response cards for key positions, thereby ensuring that corporate emergency response plans are concise, scientific, and practical to use. It emphasizes the coordination among emergency response plans at all levels and of various types. The Measures stipulate that plans developed by safety supervision agencies must specify requirements regarding information reporting, response levels, transfer of command authority, and evacuation procedures ； Strengthen the coordination between the emergency response plans of production and operation units and those of **, rescue teams, as well as other relevant units ； At the same time, production and operation units are required to inform other nearby units and individuals about the nature of the relevant accident risks, the scope of their impact, and the emergency prevention measures, thereby enhancing the coordination between government and enterprises, as well as among enterprises themselves and between enterprises and society. The \"Measures\" for regulating the filing of emergency response plans by production and business units stipulate that such filing is of a mere informational nature; the authorities responsible for handling the filings merely verify the relevant application documents, thereby preventing any form of indirect approval at the source ； It is specified that the authority responsible for accepting the filing of emergency response plans by production and business units is the department in charge with safety supervision duties, thereby preventing multiple filings ； Clarify the time limits for accepting and reviewing the filing of emergency response plans, and emphasize that failure to conduct a review within the specified time without providing a reason shall be deemed as approval of the filing, in order to avoid issues such as administrative inaction. Strengthening the dynamic management of emergency plans: The Measures stipulate that entities responsible for developing emergency plans must establish an evaluation system for such plans, in order to promote regular evaluation and dynamic revision of emergency plans by production and business units. Optimize the conditions for revising emergency plans, and simplify the procedures for revising and filing corporate emergency plans. Refine the implementation and enforcement of emergency response plans, and make it one of the key aspects of enforcing such plans, in order to encourage production and business entities to put into practice all the measures outlined in those plans. Highlight 6: Strict supervision and enforcement of emergency response plans. The Measures stipulate that the work related to emergency response plans by production and business units should be included in the enforcement plans of safety supervision and inspection agencies at all levels, thereby strengthening routine law enforcement efforts ； It specifies the details of penalties for illegal acts, clarifying aspects such as the preparation of emergency plans, drills, risk assessment, review, filing, notification, revision, and the implementation of safeguard measures, thereby promoting the fulfillment of enterprises’ primary responsibilities. The newly revised \"Measures for the Management of Emergency Plans for Production Safety Accidents\" (hereinafter referred to as the \"Measures\") were approved at the meeting of the Bureau Director’s Office of the **State Administration of Work Safety on April 15, 2016, and were issued on June 3 under Order No. 88 of the **State Administration of Work Safety, coming into effect on July 1, 2016. Background of the revision: In March 2009, the **State Administration for Work Safety issued the \"Measures for the Management of Emergency Plans for Production Safety Accidents\" (Order No. 17 of the **State Administration for Work Safety, hereinafter referred to as the original \"Measures\"), which played an important role in strengthening the management of emergency plans. However, with the continuous advancement of work related to emergency management in safety production, as well as the increasing demands placed on emergency management by the **** and the State Council, the original regulations need to be revised and improved urgently. (1) The background and focus of emergency plan work have changed. In recent years, through continuous exploration, the role of emergency plans has shifted from serving as a supplement to emergency management systems to one that focuses on improving emergency preparedness and standardizing emergency response procedures. The emphasis has also shifted from merely ensuring that such plans exist to enhancing their quality and ensuring their effectiveness in practice. At the same time, the reform of the work safety system and mechanism has set requirements for simplifying the procedures for reviewing and filing emergency plans. To keep emergency response plans up to date and meet the needs of emergency management in work safety, it is necessary to revise the original Measures. (II) Relevant laws, regulations, and State Council documents have put forward new requirements for emergency plan work. The new Work Safety Law sets clear provisions regarding the primary responsibilities of enterprises for emergency plans, the coordination between government and enterprise emergency plans, and the legal responsibilities associated with emergency plans ； Documents such as the \"Notice of the State Council on Further Strengthening Work Safety in Enterprises\" (Guo Fa [2010] No. 23), the \"Opinions of the State Council on Adhering to Scientific and Safe Development to Promote a Continuous and Stable Improvement in Work Safety Conditions\" (Guo Fa [2011] No. 40), and the \"Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Issuing Measures for the Management of Emergency Response Plans\" (Guo Ban Fa [2013] No. 101) set out specific requirements regarding the functional role of emergency response plans, the procedures for their development, the responsibilities involved in their management, and the integration of these plans. They further clarify that enterprise emergency response plans should reflect the principles of initial response and self-help as well as mutual assistance, emphasize the need to conduct risk assessments and surveys of emergency resources when developing such plans, and to seek broad input from various stakeholders. Additionally, these documents stress the importance of ensuring coordination between government and enterprise emergency response plans, as well as the necessity of evaluating, revising, and dynamically managing these plans. The original regulations are no longer suitable for the new requirements; the main issue is that too much emphasis is placed on standardizing the content of corporate emergency plans, while insufficient attention is given to standardizing the procedures for developing such plans ； Emphasize the comprehensiveness of emergency plan content, while neglecting its practicality ； Focus on improving the coordination of various emergency plans within enterprises, while giving less attention to the coordination between government and enterprise emergency plans ； Emphasis is placed on the signing and issuance of emergency plans, while less attention is given to their dissemination, training exercises, and dynamic management. Therefore, it is necessary to supplement and refine the relevant specific requirements by amending the original Measures. (III) The experiences and lessons learned from the emergency response to some major and severe accidents need to be drawn upon and improved through these Measures. According to the investigation report on the particularly serious fire and explosion accident at Tianjin Port on August 12, one of the reasons that led to the occurrence and escalation of the accident was the fact that Ruihai Company’s emergency response plans were merely formalities; there was a severe shortage of emergency response personnel and equipment, and the company did not have the capability to extinguish fires in their early stages. To improve emergency response capabilities, in recent years some departments and enterprises have taken measures such as preparing emergency response cards for key positions, to guide employees to take action promptly to prevent accidents from occurring or spreading. These measures are conducive to improving the emergency response system for production safety accidents, and it is necessary to promote and implement them through the revision of the relevant regulations. Revision process: Based on extensive and in-depth research conducted in the preliminary stage, the Emergency Rescue Command Center for Work Safety began to revise the original regulations in 2013, and by the end of that year a draft of the revised version was prepared ； In 2014 and 2015, opinions were sought twice from provincial safety supervision and inspection agencies across the country as well as from some central state-owned enterprises ； In December 2015, the Political and Legal Department of the **General Administration of Work Safety** published a draft for revision on its website, seeking and incorporating opinions from all sectors of society ； In May 2016, the Department of Politics and Law of the **General Administration of Work Safety organized a legal review meeting for the revision of the Measures ； Through repeated research, consultations, and revisions, the \"Measures (Revised Draft for Review)\\" was gradually refined and improved. Eventually, it was approved after review and officially released. Revisions The newly revised Measures consist of 7 chapters and 48 articles, 9 more than the original Measures. The main modifications are as follows: (1) The scope of application and management principles have been expanded. Currently, the focus of emergency plan efforts has shifted toward helping enterprises improve the quality of their plans, ensure their effectiveness, and achieve dynamic management of these plans. To this end, the Measures add elements such as “promotion, education, evaluation, and supervision and management” to the scope of application, and include a “dynamic management” aspect in the management principles, in order to strengthen the implementation and supervision of emergency plans. (II) The responsibilities of the principal persons in charge of production and business operations have been strengthened. To further strengthen the primary responsibility of enterprises for emergency plan management and address issues such as insufficient attention to and inadequate implementation of such plans within enterprises, Article 18 of the Work Safety Law specifies the responsibilities of the principal persons in charge of production and operation entities, as well as their respective deputy supervisors, regarding emergency plan management. (III) The emergency plan system for production and business operations has been improved. By drawing on experience in optimizing emergency response plans, the principles for developing such plans are further clarified, with an emphasis on emergency response as the core focus ； There is no longer a mandatory requirement for production and operation units to develop specific emergency plans; the content of various plans has been simplified in order to make them more concise, thereby addressing common issues such as uniformity in the quality of these plans across different enterprises and repetitive content ； Practices in recent years have shown that developing emergency response cards for key positions is an important measure to improve the effectiveness of immediate emergency responses; therefore, regulations requiring production and business units to create such emergency response cards have been introduced. (IV) Adjustments were made to the preparation and filing of emergency plans. In accordance with the Measures for the Management of Emergency Plan Formulation, provisions such as the establishment of a formulation team, and the requirement to conduct risk assessments and investigations into emergency resources when formulating emergency plans have been added ； In accordance with the provisions of the Work Safety Law regarding the coordination of emergency plans, requirements for coordinating these plans, seeking opinions from relevant units and individuals, and making such plans public have been added ； In line with the requirements for reforming the work safety system and mechanisms, the mandatory requirement that the emergency plan review must include participation from the plan management department has been abolished ； To address issues such as multiple filing requirements, excessive reviews, and unclear entities responsible for filing emergency plans, which have been frequently raised at the grassroots level, and to prevent the filing of emergency plans from serving as a prerequisite for approval, the responsible entity for filing has been adjusted, in line with practical considerations, to the department in charge of safety supervision. The filing process has been designated as a mere notification procedure, time limits for filing have been established, and the entities responsible for filing emergency plans for oil and gas transmission pipelines have been defined. (5) Strengthened the implementation of emergency response plans. To enhance the relevance and effectiveness of emergency response plans, in accordance with the \"Notice of the General Office of the State Council on Issuing the Measures for the Management of Emergency Response Plans,\" the mandatory requirement of revising these plans every three years, which was stipulated in the original measures, has been removed. Instead, regular evaluations of the plans, as well as timely evaluations and summaries following the occurrence of an incident, have been introduced; furthermore, a system for mandatory revisions in certain prescribed situations has been established. (VI) The corresponding legal responsibilities have been adjusted. In accordance with the relevant provisions of the Work Safety Law regarding penalties for emergency plans, Chapter 5 \"Supervision and Management\" includes emergency plans as an essential element of safety supervision and law enforcement inspections ； Chapter 6, \"Legal Responsibilities,\" adds key aspects related to law enforcement inspections of emergency response plans, specifies the standards and details for such enforcement, and clarifies the authorities vested in law enforcement officials. To ensure implementation, first, the safety supervision bureaus of each province (autonomous region, municipality directly under the Central Government) shall, in accordance with the provisions of these Measures and taking into account local conditions, formulate or revise detailed rules for their implementation, clarify the scope for which emergency plans prepared by local production and business units must be filed, and strengthen the management of such emergency plans. Secondly, the safety supervision bureaus of various provinces (autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government) should fully leverage the role of the offices of the safety committees, coordinate with other departments responsible for safety supervision to ensure that they fulfill their responsibilities regarding emergency plan management, and promote the formulation, revision, and filing of emergency plans by enterprises in their respective industries and sectors, thereby improving the quality of these emergency plans. Third, safety supervision and inspection agencies at all levels should organize training sessions to promote the implementation of these Measures, ensuring that all the provisions contained in them are communicated to relevant safety supervisors at all levels as well as to various production and business entities. Fourth, safety supervision and inspection agencies at all levels should strengthen inspections and oversight, and take strict action against illegal activities. Urge enterprises to assume primary responsibility for the preparation and management of emergency plans, to formulate such plans in strict accordance with the provisions of the relevant regulations, and to organize training and drills related to these plans, so as to ensure that emergency plans play a role in guiding emergency preparedness and emergency response efforts. (**Provided by the Safety Production Emergency Rescue Command Center**)