Safety Committee Office | Notice on Conducting Thorough Safety Inspections and Strengthening Safety Measures at the End of the Year and the Beginning of the New One

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Notice from the Office of the State Council Safety Committee on Carrying Out Thorough Inspections for Work Safety and Strengthening Safety Measures at the End of the Year and the Beginning of the New Year, Document No. Mingdian [2016]13: To the work safety committees of all provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the Central Government, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps; to the relevant member units of the State Council Safety Committee; and to the relevant central state-owned enterprises: Since the beginning of this year, positive progress has been made in work safety across the country, but serious accidents still occur from time to time. In particular, since the third quarter, there have been several major accidents in coal mines and on roadways. We have now entered the fourth quarter, a period with a high incidence of accidents, and the various factors that lead to accidents have clearly increased. To effectively address this situation, ensure the safety of people’s lives and property, and maintain a continuously improving trend in work safety throughout the year, the Office of the State Council Safety Committee has decided to carry out a nationwide inspection of work safety. The relevant requirements are set out as follows: First, it is necessary to fully recognize the severity of the current work safety situation and strengthen safety precautions. The end of the year and the beginning of the new year are traditionally critical periods for work safety. At present, various production, operation, and construction activities are in their peak period, resulting in heavy traffic in transportation. Some companies are eager to meet deadlines and complete tasks as quickly as possible. Coupled with the recent rise in prices of raw materials such as coal, building materials, and chemicals, there is a higher risk of violations of regulations and laws, which can lead to production safety accidents. As the New Year approaches, there is an increase in public travel during holidays, as well as in large-scale cultural and entertainment events and gatherings. At the same time, adverse weather conditions such as low temperatures, rain, snow, freezing, and cold snaps increase the factors that can lead to accidents. All regions, relevant departments and units must clearly recognize the severe situation faced by work safety at present, further strengthen their sense of urgency and concern, conduct proactive analysis and assessment, and in light of the characteristics of the work safety situation at the end of the year and the beginning of the new one, effectively enhance organizational leadership, carry out extensive mobilization, ensure proper implementation of responsibilities, and comprehensively strengthen safety precautions. II. Carry out thorough inspections for work safety and promptly rectify any potential hazards. Local work safety committees at all levels should, in accordance with laws and regulations, define the tasks for various departments and organizations, focusing on key industries and sectors such as mines, transportation, hazardous chemicals, fireworks and firecrackers, construction, oil and gas pipelines, metallurgical gas use, dust-related operations, establishments that combine multiple functions in one space, and places with high concentrations of people, in order to swiftly conduct comprehensive work safety inspections. Special attention is paid to examining the implementation by various levels of ** and their relevant departments and enterprises of the various systems and measures outlined by the State Council’s Safety Committee to prevent serious and major accidents. It is also checked whether different types of enterprises fulfill their responsibilities regarding work safety, abide by relevant safety regulations, strengthen on-site safety management and monitoring of major hazard sources, ensure the safe operation and maintenance of key facilities and equipment, and take appropriate safety precautions during winter. Inspections should identify potential accident hazards and safety issues, and these should be addressed promptly. For those that cannot be fixed immediately, a plan for correction should be developed for each one, ensuring that responsibility, measures, funding, timelines, and contingency plans are all in place. For those with serious safety hazards that prevent safe production, operations must be halted immediately for rectification. Those who cause accidents due to failure to fulfill their job responsibilities or inadequate implementation of measures must be held strictly accountable. All regions should organize carefully and make thorough plans to carry out comprehensive inspections on work safety in a solid manner, while also mobilizing and guiding enterprises to conduct self-inspections. Inspections of key enterprises and key locations should be listed in a unified manner, with clear division of responsibilities, and carried out one by one; no omissions or carelessness are permitted. It is necessary to clearly record the inspection items, inspection opinions and rectification requirements, as well as the responsible units and individuals for the inspections. At the same time, it is necessary to pay attention to ensuring the standardization of inspections and regulatory enforcement, in order to avoid repeated inspections and penalties for the same enterprise or location. The Office of the State Council Safety Committee will organize a special inspection in mid-to-late November to assess the progress of comprehensive safety inspections in key areas and industries. III. Strengthen safety supervision in key industries and sectors to resolutely prevent and curb the occurrence of major accidents. All regions, relevant departments, and units must earnestly implement the requirements set out in the Notice issued by the Office of the State Council’s Safety Committee on Printing and Distributing Guidelines for Addressing the Root Causes and Preventing Major Accidents (Safety Committee Office [2016] No. 3) and the Opinions on Implementing the Guidelines for Preventing Major Accidents and Establishing a Dual Prevention Mechanism (Safety Committee Office [2016] No. 11). They should continue to focus on implementing various measures and systems aimed at preventing and curbing major accidents, advance safety measures at earlier stages, and continuously improve their capacity to prevent and control accidents. It is necessary to take into account the characteristics of safe production in winter, further intensify safety supervision and law enforcement in key industries and sectors, deepen special safety rectification efforts, and crack down severely in accordance with the law on all kinds of illegal and irregular production, operation, and construction activities. It is necessary to strengthen safety supervision in coal mines and non-coal mines, enhance inspections and monitoring of closed mines, mines under renovation or expansion, mines on suspension for rectification, and tailing ponds. Strict checks and approvals must be implemented before resuming operations, in order to prevent illegal and unauthorized production activities as well as accidents such as dam failures, collapses, and poisonings. It is necessary to strengthen safety supervision at all stages related to hazardous chemicals, as well as the production, storage, handling, transportation, and use (setting off) of fireworks and firecrackers. Safety measures such as fire prevention, freezing protection, explosion prevention, leakage prevention, and poisoning prevention must be strictly implemented, and any illegal or irregular activities in production and transportation must be severely cracked down on. It is necessary to fully consider the potential impacts of severe adverse weather conditions such as rain, snow, heavy fog, freezing, strong winds, and cold snaps, as well as the increased traffic volume during holidays. Safety oversight should be strengthened for key transportation enterprises, important vehicles and ships, critical routes (waterways), civil aviation companies, and airports. Traffic violations such as speeding, overloading passengers, exceeding weight limits, and driving while fatigued must be strictly prosecuted. It is necessary to further intensify the special governance of construction work, strengthen safety management at construction sites, strictly implement safety protection measures, and strictly prohibit carrying out construction in conditions of rain, snow, or strong winds. It is necessary to strengthen fire safety management in crowded places, strictly regulate the approval process for large-scale public events, and thoroughly implement safety precautions to prevent accidents such as stampedes and fires that can result in mass casualties. IV. Strengthen safety awareness campaigns and emergency management to effectively improve accident prevention and control capabilities. All regions, relevant departments, and organizations should make full use of various news media to intensify safety awareness campaigns, widely disseminate knowledge on safe production in winter as well as common safety practices related to electricity use, gas use, fire safety, and traffic, thereby further enhancing the safety consciousness of the general public and improving their safety literacy. Urge various enterprises to strengthen safety education for operations in key positions, thereby improving the safe operation skills and emergency escape capabilities of their employees. It is necessary to further strengthen safety production monitoring, early warning, and emergency management; issue timely forecasts and warnings regarding severe weather conditions as well as safety advisories, and urge enterprises and the entire society to take effective measures for prevention and response ； It is necessary to further improve emergency plans for work safety, strengthen coordination between local authorities and enterprises as well as conduct more drills, and ensure proper preparation in terms of rescue teams, equipment, and supplies ； Further strengthen duty monitoring and emergency coordination to ensure that in the event of any accidents or emergencies, timely, scientific, and effective responses can be taken to fully safeguard the lives and property of the people. All regions and relevant departments are requested to submit information on the preliminary arrangements for carrying out comprehensive inspections on work safety to the Office of the State Council Safety Committee by November 30 (contact persons and phone numbers: Zheng Haitao, Wang Yuqing, 010-64463969, 64463921, 64463623) ； Email: awb@chinasafety.gov.cn). Office of the State Council Safety Committee, October 25, 2016