Interpretation of the “14th Five-Year Plan for Safe Production of Hazardous Chemicals”

　　Recently, the Ministry of Emergency Management released the “14th Five-Year Plan for Safe Production of Hazardous Chemicals” (hereinafter referred to as the “Plan”). To facilitate a thorough understanding of its contents and ensure effective implementation, the following interpretation of key aspects is provided:
　　I. What is the background and significance of the issuance of the “Planning Scheme”?
　　Since the launch of the 13th Five-Year Plan, all regions, relevant departments, and units have thoroughly studied and implemented General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on work safety, earnestly carried out the “Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Comprehensively Strengthening Work Safety in the Field of Hazardous Chemicals,” conducted comprehensive governance of hazardous chemical safety, and fully launched a three-year special campaign to address safety issues related to hazardous chemicals. As a result, significant progress has been made in preventing and controlling safety risks, and the goals and tasks set forth in the 13th Five-Year Plan have been largely accomplished.
　　The chemical industry is a pillar sector and a traditional strength of China. At the same time, China ranks first worldwide in chemical production. During the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China’s chemical industry is at a critical juncture of upgrading and transformation—shifting from “large” to “strong”—with accelerated structural adjustments, markedly faster cluster‑based development, robust growth in low‑carbon industries, and increasingly pronounced dual‑circulation dynamics. Refining and other petrochemical sectors are being upgraded, traditional chemical industries such as chlor‑alkali are undergoing consolidation, new‑type coal‑chemical industries are being modernized, and the new materials sector is experiencing vigorous expansion. Hydrogen energy and other emerging clean‑energy sources are increasingly employed as feedstocks, while chemical industrial parks have become key platforms for advancing specialization and intensive development. A number of world‑class petrochemical hubs have taken shape along the eastern coast, and a large wave of petrochemical, new‑materials, and modern coal‑chemical projects is rapidly being deployed. China’s ultra‑large market advantages are further accentuated, even as its dependence on imported oil and gas continues to rise. The 14th Five-Year Plan calls for strategic restructuring of the chemical industry, with the new development philosophy accelerating the pace of industrial upgrading—overall benefiting from higher industry concentration and enhanced intrinsic safety. However, the inherently high‑risk nature of the chemical sector remains unchanged; deep‑seated issues accumulated over years of rapid growth have yet to be fundamentally resolved. Traditional risks across production, storage, transportation, and waste disposal persist at elevated levels, while risks associated with industrial relocation, aging facilities, and emerging fields such as new energy, offshore oil, and hydrogen energy are becoming increasingly salient. Cumulative risk factors are now converging and entering a phase of concentrated exposure, making the task of preventing and defusing major safety hazards both arduous and complex. Overall, during the 14th Five-Year Plan period, China’s safe production of hazardous chemicals remains in a critical phase of overcoming obstacles and tackling tough challenges. While favorable conditions persist—such as steadily improving safety trends—the sector also faces severe challenges arising from the overlapping of old and new risks.
　　In the face of new challenges, a new landscape, and new requirements, and in order to implement the spirit of the 19th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the plenary sessions of the 19th CPC Central Committee, as well as the decisions and arrangements of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on strengthening work related to workplace safety, this Plan has been formulated to provide guidance for ensuring workplace safety in the areas of hazardous chemicals, oil and gas, and fireworks and firecrackers during the 14th Five-Year Plan period; to reinforce the prevention and control of major safety risks; to effectively curb and prevent serious and extremely serious accidents; and to comprehensively elevate the overall level of workplace safety. This Plan is based on the National Emergency Response System Plan and the Workplace Safety Plan for the 14th Five-Year Plan period.
　　II. What are the overall considerations underlying the drafting of the “Planning Scheme”?
　　The overarching rationale behind drafting the Planning Scheme is to thoroughly study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on work safety, approaching the issue from the perspective of balancing development and safety, viewing it through the lens of embarking on a new journey toward fully building a modern socialist country, and adopting a systems‑based approach. Consistently, the scheme prioritizes addressing systemic safety risks associated with hazardous chemicals, emphasizing three key areas: strengthening the safety governance system, enhancing intrinsic safety, and accelerating the digital transformation of safety management. It focuses closely on major hazard sources, high‑risk industries, and critical regions, adhering to a working methodology that combines source‑level prevention, addressing both symptoms and root causes, and advancing in a systematic manner. Rather than striving for comprehensive coverage, the plan proceeds within feasible limits, balancing strategic guidance with tactical operability, and laying out a systematic framework for work during the 14th Five-Year Plan period. Given that the safety of hazardous chemicals constitutes a top priority in preventing and mitigating major risks, the Planning Scheme centers on hazardous chemicals while also encompassing oil and gas as well as fireworks and firecrackers.
　　III. What are the main contents of the “Planning Scheme”?
　　The “Planning Scheme” consists of six sections, organized into three major parts. The first part is a general overview, comprising Sections 1 and 2, which primarily outlines the achievements and key challenges during the 13th Five-Year Plan period, the prevailing circumstances and challenges, as well as the guiding principles, basic principles, main objectives for the 14th Five-Year Plan period, and the long-term vision for 2035. The second part provides a detailed analysis, encompassing Sections 3, 4, and 5. Centered on the systematic prevention of safety risks associated with hazardous chemicals, it adopts a problem‑, goal‑, and outcome‑oriented approach, simultaneously implementing institutional and engineering measures to put in place a series of policy initiatives and project undertakings aimed at strengthening the safety governance system and enhancing intrinsic safety levels. The third part addresses supporting measures, constituting Section 6, and sets forth requirements regarding implementation mechanisms, the execution of priority measures, diversified funding mechanisms, pilot and demonstration projects, and planning evaluation.
　　IV. What are the guiding principles, basic principles, and main objectives set forth in the “Standardization Plan”?
　　The guiding principle set forth in the Planning Scheme is to take Xi Jinping Thought on Socialism with Chinese Characteristics for a New Era as the guiding ideology, thoroughly study and implement General Secretary Xi Jinping’s important expositions on work safety, consistently prioritize the prevention and control of safety risks associated with hazardous chemicals in efforts to avert and defuse major risks, and earnestly carry out the arrangements outlined in the Opinions of the CPC Central Committee and the State Council on Comprehensively Strengthening Work Safety in the Handling of Hazardous Chemicals. The plan adheres to the principle of coordinating development and safety, upholds the paramountcy of the people and life, sets the effective containment of serious and extremely serious accidents as its primary objective, and uses the three-year special campaign for improving hazardous‑chemical safety—implemented on a rolling basis—as a key lever. It focuses on addressing critical priorities, strengthening foundational capabilities, plugging loopholes, and making up for shortcomings; places greater emphasis on building a sound safety governance system, enhancing intrinsic safety, and advancing the digital transformation of management practices; reinforces source‑level governance, tackles both symptoms and root causes, and promotes systematic progress; and seeks to elevate the level of systematic, precise, and intelligent safety management. By fundamentally eliminating hidden dangers and resolving underlying problems, the plan aims to comprehensively drive the transformation and upgrading of the chemical industry, thereby providing robust support for implementing the new development philosophy, fostering a new development paradigm, promoting high‑quality development, and fully building a modern socialist country.
　　The “Planning Scheme” sets forth the following guiding principles: First, guided by sound concepts and addressing both symptoms and root causes. Upholding the philosophy of safe development, we will integrate safety into every stage and sector of the chemical industry, intensify targeted remediation efforts, enforce stringent entry‑level controls, continuously strengthen foundational measures, establish long‑term mechanisms, resolutely prevent and curb serious and extremely serious accidents, and steadily improve workplace safety in the handling of hazardous chemicals, thereby using high‑level safety to support high‑quality development. Second, building a comprehensive system and pursuing systematic governance. Adopting a systems‑thinking approach, we will prioritize the prevention of systemic safety risks associated with hazardous chemicals, emphasize corporate principal responsibility, reinforce government regulatory accountability, standardize the construction and safety management of chemical industrial parks, and coordinate the enhancement of systems covering safety responsibilities, hazard identification and rectification, preventive control, intrinsic safety, personnel training, and basic support, thus establishing a hazardous‑chemicals safety governance framework commensurate with China’s status as a major chemical‑producing nation. Third, increasing investment and advancing intrinsic safety. Placing safety first, we will make the enhancement of intrinsic safety a core task, focusing on key areas such as improving safety standards in chemical industrial parks, strengthening safety prevention and control at large oil and gas storage facilities, upgrading enterprise safety practices, providing workforce training, and promoting the integration of “Industrial Internet + Hazardous Chemical Safety Production,” while implementing a series of projects aimed at elevating intrinsic safety. Fourth, fostering innovation and emphasizing coordination. Guided by clear objectives, problem‑oriented approaches, and measurable outcomes, we will regard innovative practices as the critical lever for overcoming challenges in hazardous‑chemical safety, drive the digital transformation and intelligent upgrading of safety management, reinforce risk‑control measures across all stages of the hazardous‑chemical lifecycle, as well as in oil and gas extraction, storage, and transportation, and in the fireworks and firecrackers sector, and concentrate on major hazard sources, priority industries, and key regions. We will strengthen vertical linkages and inter‑departmental collaboration, establishing a working mechanism in which enterprises assume primary responsibility, cities and counties ensure implementation, provinces take overall accountability, and the state provides guidance.
　　The “Planning Scheme” sets the following work targets for 2025: continuously improve the institutional, mechanistic, and legal frameworks for preventing and defusing major safety risks associated with hazardous chemicals; further strengthen the accountability system for workplace safety; reinforce safety oversight responsibilities in chemical industrial parks; effectively curb serious and extremely serious accidents involving hazardous chemicals; achieve a significant reduction in the total number of accidents across the chemical, oil and gas, and fireworks and firecrackers sectors, as well as in the number of major chemical accidents; and establish a comprehensive system for identifying, addressing, and preventing hazards related to hazardous chemicals. Specifically, the objectives are “one decline and three notable improvements”: the number of accidents and fatalities in the chemical, oil and gas, and fireworks and firecrackers industries will continue to decrease—specifically, the number of chemical accidents and associated fatalities, as well as the number of major and above‑level accidents and their fatalities, will fall by more than 15% compared with the 13th Five-Year Plan period; the number of oil and gas accidents and their fatalities will decline by more than 15% relative to the same period; and the number of production and operation accidents involving fireworks and firecrackers and their fatalities will drop by over 20% compared with the 13th Five-Year Plan era. In addition, progress in building a robust safety governance system will be markedly accelerated, intrinsic safety levels will be significantly enhanced, and safety management in key areas will be substantially strengthened. By 2035, the long-term vision is to have a fully established and rigorously implemented accountability system for safe production of hazardous chemicals, with major safety risks effectively contained and controlled; to bring workplace safety into a relatively stable phase; to reduce the fatality rate per 100,000 workers to a level comparable to or approaching that of developed countries; and to essentially achieve modernization of the safety production governance system and governance capacity.
　　V. What specific measures does the “Planning Scheme” adopt to establish a governance system for the safety of hazardous chemicals?
　　The “Planning Scheme” outlines six key areas for building a safety governance system for hazardous chemicals: First, the safety production responsibility system—emphasizing the implementation of the “Three Musts,” strengthening the responsibilities of local Party and government leaders, regulatory authorities, chemical park administrators, and enterprises, and addressing the “last-mile” challenges in grassroots supervision and enterprise compliance. Second, the hazard identification and remediation system—making the establishment of enterprise‑led hazard identification and remediation frameworks a priority, shifting enterprises from passively accepting safety oversight to proactively managing safety, and transitioning from government‑centered administrative inspections to routine, enterprise‑driven hazard detection. Third, the safety prevention and control system—advancing preventive measures at the source, improving and enforcing foundational regulations, prioritizing the management of major safety risks, and comprehensively enhancing capabilities in chemical risk assessment, precise oversight of major hazard sources, tiered control of high‑risk activities, and overall enterprise safety management. Fourth, the intrinsic safety development system—strengthening risk prevention for industrial relocation and aging facilities, carrying out targeted campaigns to upgrade chemical parks, implement classified rectification of enterprises, and address illegal and non‑compliant small‑scale chemical operations, thereby fostering an intrinsically safe development model characterized by stringent准入 standards, standardized spatial planning, and cutting‑edge technologies. Fifth, the workforce training system—using rigorous personnel qualification requirements as a leverage point to compel enterprises to fulfill their principal responsibilities, while comprehensively advancing the development of enterprise safety management technical teams, enhancing the safety skills of operators in key positions, and expanding access to integrated online‑offline safety training programs. Sixth, the foundational support and assurance system—focusing on bolstering legal and regulatory frameworks, intelligent management, technology‑driven safety, social co‑governance, emergency response capacity, and international cooperation and exchange.
　　VI. What specific measures does the “Planning Scheme” include to enhance intrinsic safety?
　　The “Planning Scheme” proposes implementing five major initiatives to enhance intrinsic safety: First, the Chemical Park Safety Enhancement Project. Building on safety assessments and tiered improvement efforts, it will focus on effectively implementing tailored remediation and upgrading measures for each park, developing a number of intrinsically safe chemical parks, and carrying out key projects for preventing and controlling major safety risks. Second, the Large-Scale Oil and Gas Storage Facility Safety Prevention Project. It will promote the upgrading and retrofitting of equipment, facilities, and control systems at large oil and gas storage sites, ensuring 100% coverage and operational readiness of four critical systems—gas detection, video surveillance, emergency shut-off, and lightning‑warning—and achieving zero non‑compliant enterprises with inadequate external safety protection distances. It will also drive the digital and intelligent transformation of safety management, as well as pilot demonstrations and wider application of cutting-edge technologies. Third, the Hazardous Chemical Enterprise Safety Renovation Project. In coordination with relevant authorities, it will systematically advance the relocation and renovation of hazardous chemical production facilities located in densely populated urban areas, upgrade internal plant layouts that fail to meet regulatory requirements, and continuously implement upgrades to safety instrumented systems, automated controls, process optimization, and technological modernization. It will also enhance capabilities for safety risk monitoring and early warning, and for intelligent, information‑based management of tank farms and warehouses, while piloting unmanned‑operation projects for high‑hazard process units. Fourth, the Hazardous Chemical Safety Training Network Development Project. It will establish high‑level, regionally oriented safety training centers in key regions and chemical parks, serving surrounding communities; encourage enterprises to build integrated online‑offline safety training spaces; cultivate a portfolio of online training brands; and develop standardized curricula and digital resource libraries. Fifth, the “Industrial Internet + Hazardous Chemical Safety Production” Project. It will formulate pilot construction plans, creating enterprise‑, industry‑, and regional‑level platforms at the enterprise, chemical park, and government levels, launching a series of demonstration applications, and advancing the digital, networked, and intelligent upgrading of safety risk management and control mechanisms.
　　VII. What specific measures does the “Planning Scheme” adopt to strengthen targeted, category-specific approaches and precisely manage safety risks in key areas?
　　The “Planning Scheme” sets forth requirements for strengthening differentiated measures and precisely managing safety risks in eight key areas. First, in the chemical industry: rigorously supervise enterprises holding safety permits; strictly enforce control measures for major hazard sources and critical hazardous chemical processes; and rigorously identify and manage safety risks at other chemical enterprises that use hazardous chemicals. Second, in the pharmaceutical industry: tightly regulate chemical synthesis‑based drug manufacturers; bring all pharmaceutical enterprises involving major hazard sources or critical hazardous chemical processes under the priority oversight of the hazardous chemical safety risk monitoring and early warning system; and rigorously conduct safety risk identification and management for other pharmaceutical enterprises that use hazardous chemicals. Third, in the hazardous chemical distribution sector: strictly implement control measures for major hazard sources; establish and progressively refine a nationwide safety regulatory system for the handling of hazardous chemicals; carry out safety risk assessments and categorized remediation of chemical storage tank areas; standardize the operation of new types of vehicle fuels; launch pilot projects for smart gas stations; and develop safety standards for hydrogen refueling stations. Fourth, in the oil and gas sector: prioritize safety in onshore and offshore oil and gas extraction, long‑distance pipelines, and storage facilities; establish a new safety regulatory framework featuring comprehensive accountability at the corporate headquarters and oversight by government authorities; improve and fully implement measures to control major safety risks in oil and gas extraction, storage, and transportation; and continuously enhance capabilities to ensure safe increases in reserves and expanded production capacity. Fifth, in the fireworks and firecrackers industry: adopt a dual‑pronged approach of developing centralized zones and conducting targeted safety rectifications, focusing on “two reductions and two improvements” (reducing the number of factories and personnel, while raising industrial concentration and levels of mechanization and automation); build national transformation‑and‑upgrading centralized zones for fireworks and firecrackers; conduct thorough inspections and address potential hazards; and construct a modern fireworks and firecrackers industry characterized by intensive production, standardized operations, and controllable safety. In addition, actively coordinate with and support relevant departments to strengthen safety management throughout the disposal, transportation, and use of hazardous chemicals, thereby further enhancing overall safety assurance capabilities.
　　VIII. What are the next steps for implementing the “Planning Scheme”?
　　To strengthen implementation, the Planning Scheme sets forth five safeguard measures: First, establish and improve an implementation mechanism. Enhance organizational leadership over plan execution; provincial emergency management departments shall, based on local conditions, formulate implementation plans, define priorities, clarify responsibilities, and set timelines, while establishing a collaborative mechanism involving key regions, industries, sectors, and enterprises to ensure timely achievement of objectives. Second, earnestly implement priority measures. All regions and enterprises should break down annual targets into specific tasks, develop timetables and roadmaps, identify concrete platforms and leverage points, adopt checklist‑based management and project‑oriented advancement, and align these efforts with both annual plans and long-term strategies to ensure effective execution. Third, reinforce a diversified investment mechanism. Strengthen policy support and guidance, actively broaden funding channels, and encourage local governments, chemical industrial parks, and enterprises to increase investment, launching major projects for hazardous chemical safety infrastructure and enterprise safety upgrades. This will foster a multi‑stakeholder investment framework in which enterprises take the lead, local authorities provide diverse forms of support, and civil society actively participates. Fourth, conduct pilot and demonstration initiatives. Emphasize the role of pilots as guides, organize early‑stage trials, encourage exploration and innovation, and leverage demonstration effects to spearhead progress. Promptly distill and disseminate exemplary practices that are replicable, scalable, and worthy of wider adoption, thereby providing robust support for the successful implementation and tangible results of the plan. Fifth, rigorously carry out plan evaluation. Establish an evaluation mechanism for plan implementation, conduct ongoing monitoring and assessment of progress, comprehensively track developments and outcomes, summarize and promote best practices, promptly identify issues, and make timely adjustments and optimizations.

Source: Ministry of Emergency Management Author: Ministry of Emergency Management