Request a Demo
On 9th August, China Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM) issued a notice [1] to release the drafts of two national standard, namely, Safety Code of Special Work in Chemical Manufactory and Safety Technology Specification for Ammonium Nitrate. The consultation period will end on 15th October, 2019.
Safety Code of Special Work in Chemical Manufactory [2], which will replace GB30871-2014, specifies the safety requirements for chemical manufacturers to perform 8 kinds of special work (Table 1). Statistics have shown that about 50% of accidents occurred during special works, so China has repeatedly emphasized the importance of regulations on special work and raised the level of these regulations.
Table 1. Kinds of Special Work Included in the Standard
Hot work | Operation at confined place | Blinding-pipeline operation with stop plate | Work at height |
Lifting work | Temporary electricity work | Excavation work | Work for road breaking |
Compared with the previous version (GB30871-2014), the draft stresses the supervision and inspection responsibility when performing special works. Specifically, the draft strengthens the management system of the Supervisor and the Safety Work Permit (Certificate). The supervisor is an employee that has been trained and qualified to guarantee the safety of special work operations. This means that supervisors need adequate knowledge and on-site emergency response capabilities. The supervisors also have certain responsibilities and must stop operations and revoke the special work permit (certificate) when things go wrong.
Safety Technology Specification for Ammonium Nitrate [3], the other draft National Standard, focuses on the safe production of ammonium nitrate. Ammonium nitrate is used to make nitrogen fertilizer and is also widely used in the production of explosives. Ammonium nitrate was also implicated as the cause of the explosion in the Tianjin Port Fire and Explosion Accident in 2015 (Chemlinked News [4]). To prevent similar accidents, the safety requirements for production, transport and storage, and the fire and explosion accident site treatment measures are detailed in the draft.
On 13th August, MEM also released 19 approved Safety Production Industry Standards (Notice 15 in 2019 [5]), involving accident precaution, mine production, production and sales of fireworks and onshore oil and gas pipeline construction. These industry standards will take effect on 1st February, 2020. As far as the China standards system is concerned, national standards are always broad and binding while the industry standards usually detailed but just recommended.
