It has been clarified: If a chemical industrial park falls into any of eight specified situations, it will be directly classified as a high‑risk safety level.

Recently, the Ministry of Emergency Management revised and issued the “Guidelines for Identifying and Addressing Safety Risks in Chemical Industrial Parks” (hereinafter referred to as the “Guidelines”), further clarifying the definition of chemical industrial parks, the mechanisms for safety risk assessment and dynamic adjustment, and the detailed procedures for safety risk identification.

The Guidelines explicitly prohibit the entry of hazardous chemical production projects that are listed in the Catalogue of Outdated and Hazardous Chemical Production Processes, Technologies, and Equipment, employ immature processes, or fail to comply with safety production standards and regulations, into industrial parks or designated zones. For new hazardous chemical production projects that adopt chemical processes used for the first time in China, a safety and reliability assessment must be conducted by the relevant departments of the provincial people’s government, and stringent measures must be implemented to effectively mitigate the safety risks associated with the relocation of the chemical industry.

The Guidelines require chemical industrial parks to conduct an annual self-assessment of their safety risk levels. At the provincial level, safety risk assessments shall be subject to random inspections and re‑evaluations at a rate of no less than 30% each year, with a full‑coverage provincial review completed every three years.

The Guidelines also stipulate that chemical industrial parks shall conduct a comprehensive safety risk assessment at least once every three years, formulate and effectively implement measures to eliminate, mitigate, or control safety risks. If the park’s boundary changes, or if there is a significant change in the number of major hazard sources—potentially leading to a substantial increase in the park’s overall safety risk or a rise in the safety risk assessment level—the park must be managed according to a high (Level A) or relatively high (Level B) safety risk classification. Furthermore, should a major or above‑level chemical production safety accident occur, or if such an accident results in significant social repercussions, a new comprehensive safety risk assessment shall be conducted.

With regard to project access and exit, the Guidelines stipulate that project admission to chemical industrial parks should facilitate the development of a relatively complete upstream–midstream–downstream industrial chain and promote leading industries. If enterprises within a chemical industrial park harbor significant accident hazards, they must promptly undertake rectification or be given a deadline for remediation; those that, following such measures, still fail to meet safety production requirements shall be shut down in accordance with the law.

The Guidelines also set forth requirements regarding the staffing and qualifications of safety regulators. In chemical industrial parks, the number of specialized safety regulators shall, in principle, be no fewer than six; for chemical (hazardous chemicals) enterprises numbering more than 20, the number of specialized safety regulators shall, in principle, be no fewer than ten; and for those with more than 40 such enterprises, the number shall, in principle, be no fewer than fifteen. Specialized safety regulators shall hold a bachelor’s degree or higher in chemical engineering or a related field, or possess an intermediate‑level or higher professional technical title in a relevant industry, a Level 2 (technician) or higher vocational qualification, or qualifications such as registered safety engineer or safety assessor, or have at least ten years of frontline experience in production or safety management within a chemical enterprise.

The Guidelines require that chemical industrial parks be assigned safety risk ratings as follows: below 60 points (excluding 60) is classified as a high safety risk level (Level A); 60–70 points (excluding 70) is a relatively high safety risk level (Level B); 70–85 points (excluding 85) is a moderate safety risk level (Level C); and 85 points or above is a low safety risk level (Level D).

The Guidelines clearly stipulate that if a chemical industrial park falls under any of eight specified circumstances, it shall be directly classified as having a high safety risk level (Level A):

(1) The planning of the chemical industrial park is inconsistent with the territorial spatial plan of the prefecture-level city in which it is located, or the “four boundaries” have not been clearly defined.

(2) The chemical industrial park has not designated a specific agency to assume responsibility for safety production management, or the number of professionally qualified safety supervisors does not meet the required standards.

(3) The external safety protection distances between the chemical industrial park and highly sensitive protective targets, critical protective targets, and residential areas do not meet the standard requirements.

(4) The internal layout of the chemical industrial park is unreasonable, and significant safety risks among enterprises are overlapping and spiraling out of control.

(5) Within the chemical industrial park, there exist enterprises operating in-service chemical facilities that have neither been designed by a qualified entity nor undergone a safety‑design review.

(6) Enterprises within the chemical industrial park that employ personnel performing special operations involving hazardous chemical processes whose educational qualifications and certifications do not meet the required standards;

(7) If the chemical industrial park cannot ensure dual‑source power supply, or if there is a Class I load within the park, the total capacity of the transformer on each circuit of the dual‑source system must not be sufficient to meet the electricity demand of all loads.

(8) A major or more serious chemical production safety accident occurs at an enterprise within the chemical industrial park.

The Guidelines set forth three requirements for handling chemical industrial parks assessed as having a high (Level A) or relatively high (Level B) safety risk rating:

First, a deadline for rectification is set; during the rectification period, all new, renovated, or expanded hazardous chemical production projects shall be suspended, except for projects involving safety upgrades, environmental protection, energy conservation, and intelligent transformation.

Second, upon completion of corrective measures, the relevant provincial-level authorities shall conduct a reassessment of the safety risk level. If the assessed level still fails to meet the criteria for a general or low safety risk, the matter shall be reported to the provincial government, along with proposed recommendations for handling.

Third, chemical industrial parks that have been classified as having a high safety risk level (Level A) due to major or more serious production safety accidents may only be submitted for provincial-level reassessment of their safety risk classification after at least three months have elapsed since the accident, provided that the accident has been concluded and publicly disclosed.

Source: China Chemical Industry News