Ministry of Emergency Management: Has approved 601 chemical industrial parks and relocated or upgraded 1,132 enterprises.

On February 15, the Ministry of Emergency Management held its regular monthly press conference. At the event, Sun Guangyu, Director-General of the First Division for Supervision of Hazardous Chemicals, stated that the national safety production situation in the hazardous chemicals sector has remained stable. In 2021, there were 122 chemical accidents nationwide, resulting in 150 fatalities—down 22 incidents and 28 deaths compared with the previous year, a decrease of 15.3% and 15.7%, respectively. Compared with 2019, the numbers fell by 42 incidents and 124 deaths, representing reductions of 25.6% and 45.3%, respectively. The number of major accidents dropped to single digits for the first time, and no serious or extremely serious accidents have occurred for more than 30 consecutive months—the longest such interval on record.

Sun Guangyu stated that China’s chemical industry has grown rapidly, becoming the world’s largest chemical-producing country since 2010, with its chemical output now accounting for more than 40% of the global total. Chemical production processes are complex, operating under stringent reaction conditions, and involve hazardous chemicals that are flammable, explosive, toxic, or otherwise harmful, posing high safety risks. If oversight is inadequate and accidents occur, they can result in significant casualties and property damage, severely undermining the public’s sense of safety and well-being.

Following the particularly serious “3·21” explosion in Xiangshui, Jiangsu Province in 2019, the “Opinions on Comprehensively Strengthening Work on the Safe Production of Hazardous Chemicals” were issued. The Opinions set forth a series of institutional measures covering enhanced safety risk control, full‑chain management, the implementation of enterprises’ principal responsibilities, foundational support and safeguards, and the capacity for safety supervision, with the aim of addressing fundamental, root‑cause, and bottleneck issues in the safe production of hazardous chemicals.

Sun Guangyu stated that, over the past two years since the issuance of the “Opinions,” the Ministry of Emergency Management has prioritized the prevention and mitigation of safety risks associated with hazardous chemicals. It has launched a three-year special campaign to enhance chemical safety, focusing on the “One Prevention and Three Enhancements” — preventing major safety risks and improving intrinsic safety, workforce competence, and the level of information‑based and intelligent management — while maintaining sustained efforts, overcoming challenges, and continuously elevating the overall standard of safe production in the hazardous chemicals sector.

First, we have resolutely prevented and controlled major safety risks. We have implemented comprehensive safety responsibility assignments, networked monitoring and early warning systems, and twice-yearly full‑coverage supervisory inspections for all 23,000 major hazardous chemical sources nationwide. We have conducted in-depth, item‑by‑item inspections and assessments of manned offshore oil and gas platforms and large oil and gas storage facilities, thereby establishing a normalized safety management and control system. We have carried out targeted rectifications of high‑risk enterprises involving ammonium nitrate, nitration, phosgene, and other such substances, standardizing and strengthening safety management. We have promoted the “four zero‑targets” initiative—eliminating residual reaction risks, completing automation upgrades, relocating densely populated areas, and ensuring that key personnel meet required qualifications and competencies—in fine chemical enterprises. In addition, we have launched special campaigns to address safety risks associated with the relocation of the chemical industry, strengthened risk prevention and control for new projects, and firmly prevented a recurrence of tragedies like the March 21 accident in Xiangshui, Jiangsu.

Second, the level of intrinsic safety has been comprehensively enhanced. The Ministry of Emergency Management has guided local authorities to designate and publicly announce 601 chemical industrial parks, implementing tailored remediation and upgrading plans for each park to accelerate progress toward the “two concentrations and one reduction” goal—centralized layout, cluster development, and lowered safety risk levels. Efforts have been deepened to carry out safety‑based classification and rectification of hazardous chemical enterprises, resulting in the closure or suspension of operations for 754 entities, and the renovation and upgrading of 4,780 others. Additionally, 2,769 illegal and non‑compliant small‑scale chemical facilities have been addressed, and, in coordination with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, relocation and upgrading projects have been advanced for 1,132 production enterprises located in densely populated urban areas. Furthermore, six rounds of expert guidance services have been provided to 53 key counties with a high concentration of hazardous chemical enterprises.

Third, we continued to enhance skills and competency levels. We facilitated the alignment of safety qualifications for 17,000 enterprises and 553,000 full-time safety management personnel; selected 305 institutions to offer advanced education in chemical safety, with 75,000 participants; organized the development of enterprise‑level safety training platforms and practical training bases, piloting these initiatives at 496 enterprises and in 148 chemical industrial parks; and, in collaboration with the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, launched a program to strengthen capacity in workplace injury prevention.

Fourth, we will accelerate the enhancement of informationization and intelligentization. We have completed the development of a risk monitoring and early-warning system for the safe production of hazardous chemicals and continue to deepen its application, promoting the digital transformation of the dual-prevention mechanism—hierarchical risk control and hazard identification and remediation—so as to integrate and synergize online and offline measures and improve governance effectiveness. We are steadily advancing pilot projects under the “Industrial Internet + Safe Production of Hazardous Chemicals” initiative, opening up new pathways for leveraging the industrial internet to bolster hazardous chemical safety. In addition, we have formulated the 14th Five-Year Plan for the Safe Production of Hazardous Chemicals, advancing law-based safety management and technology-driven safety improvements while strengthening foundational support and safeguards.

Sun Guangyu stated that, in the next phase, the Ministry of Emergency Management will further implement the guiding opinions issued by the General Office and the State Council, as well as the requirements of the three-year special campaign on hazardous chemical safety, by launching a nationwide concentrated effort to address safety risks associated with hazardous chemicals, thereby resolutely preventing and curbing serious and extremely serious accidents. At the same time, the ministry will ensure the effective implementation of the 14th Five-Year Plan for Safe Production of Hazardous Chemicals, advance the establishment of six major systems—responsibility for safe production, hazard identification and remediation, safety prevention and control, intrinsic safety development, workforce training, and foundational support—and carry out five key projects: upgrading safety standards in chemical industrial parks, strengthening safety safeguards at large oil and gas storage facilities, promoting enterprise safety upgrades, building a robust safety‑training network, and advancing the “Industrial Internet + Hazardous Chemical Safety Production” initiative. These measures will further enhance the systematic, precise, and intelligent management of hazardous chemical safety, ensuring high‑level safety to underpin high‑quality development.

In recent years, several eastern Chinese chemical industries have gradually relocated to the central and western regions. At the same time, the number of accidents in the receiving areas has been on the rise. In response, the Ministry of Emergency Management has conducted a special survey on the safety risks associated with the relocation of the hazardous chemicals industry.

Sun Guangyu stated that, among the major provinces in central and western China and the Northeast that have taken on relocated projects, 632 new projects have been transferred since 2019. A significant share of these projects involves high‑risk processes, and some exhibit low intrinsic safety levels. Meanwhile, the receiving regions have not adequately balanced development with safety; lacking adequate alignment in areas such as safety infrastructure, regulatory capacity, and the professional competence of personnel, they have proceeded with the indiscriminate acceptance of these relocated projects. Given the two- to three-year construction cycle typical for hazardous chemical projects, more than 470 such projects are expected to come on stream simultaneously this year. If risk management remains inadequate, these facilities could easily enter a period of heightened accident frequency.

In response, the Ministry of Emergency Management has launched a year-long special rectification campaign across 21 provinces in the central and western regions and the Northeast that have taken over transferred projects. The campaign will focus on ensuring safety through three key measures: First, controlling new additions by urging chemical industrial parks to formulate master plans, industrial development plans, and project access criteria; accelerating the establishment and improvement of project access management systems; and rigorously enforcing entry thresholds to ensure only high‑quality projects are approved. Second, addressing existing projects by coordinating at the provincial level to conduct safety‑design assessments of all ongoing projects in receiving areas, systematically evaluating each fine‑chemical enterprise against the “four zero‑targets” for remediation, weeding out substandard operations, and comprehensively raising intrinsic safety levels. Third, upgrading industrial parks by expediting the re‑evaluation of safety risks in receiving‑area chemical parks and implementing tailored remediation and enhancement plans for each park, with the goal of ensuring that by year’s end all chemical parks achieve either a general or low safety risk rating. At present, the Ministry has identified and designated 50 key counties (and industrial parks) for prioritized efforts.

Source: China Chemical Industry News