In September, China is sending inspection groups to enterprises as well as local governments in order to ensure workplace safety. If the inspection groups find any cases of local authorities do not react properly to enterprises which are lacking in safety measurements, these departments will be held accountable for not punishing the enterprises in the first place.

After the completion of the new inspections, the committee's inspection tours since last year will have covered all the country's provincial-level regions. 

In the end of August 2017, the Work Safety Committee of the State Council issued an official note that it would carry out a nationwide production safety inspection in Sept. 2017, according to market intelligence firm CCM. Local governments of many provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities, as well as key businesses in the industries of coal mining, transportation, construction, hazardous chemical production, and more, have to undergo the inspection that will last throughout the whole September.

The government has outlined the major tasks in these inspections, which will have a significant effect on the fluoride and chemicals industry in China.

First of all, the inspection groups have to Check whether local governments have built responsibility systems for production safety, initiate a publicity campaign aimed to raise public awareness about this issue, organise agencies and companies to conduct self-inspections and self-overhauls, besides other measurements.

Secondly, they are required to check whether local governments have cracked down on companies violating rules and regulations about production safety, diminish safety risks in manufacture, shut down some illegal companies, report typical cases to remind people of the importance of production safety, and similar reports.

Another task is to confirm if problems founded in previous production safety inspections or corporate self-inspections have been tackled and to what extent being confronted.

Fourthly, the groups aim to launch special rectification campaigns on production safety in the industries of coal mining, hazardous chemical production, transportation, construction, firework and firecracker production as well as in densely populated places.

Finally, they are ordered to blame and punish agencies or individuals that do not fulfil their responsibilities, take effective measures or make overhauls completely.

From 14 to 20 in Aug., inspection teams sent by the WSC-SC conducted production safety inspections in Hebei Province, Shandong Province, Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region, etc., and investigated more than 80 companies in the industries of coal mining, hazardous chemical production, etc. They also checked whether recent production accidents were well dealt with.

This new round of inspections in September is emphasizing the pressure the Chinese government is putting on manufactures as well as the local authorities to ensure the production and products of goods made in China are meeting the safety standards and keeping workers as well as consumers healthy.

Despite regular demands for more focus on work safety, frequent tragedies occur in China. A lack of safety awareness, poor regulation and lax implementation of safety measures are the main risk factors.

Earlier in 2009, the State Administration of Work Safety stipulated that production techniques of anhydrous hydrogen fluoride (AHF), refrigerants and fluoropolymers are hazardous. CCM believes this production safety inspection will raise public awareness on safe production in the fluorochemical industry and instruct companies to make products safer.

After all, China has a long history of deadly construction accidents. Beijing has vowed repeatedly to improve workplace safety but, despite a general improvement, tens of thousands of people still die in workplace accidents every year. Pressure has ratcheted up in recent years for better regulations, safety training and equipment. While 19,783 people died in Chinese industrial accidents in the first seven months of 2017, according to the State Administration of Work Safety, that was down almost 17 percent compared to the same period in 2016.

About CCM

CCM is the leading market intelligence provider for China’s agriculture, chemicals, food & ingredients and life science markets.

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