On October 21, 2022, China issued a notice to advance a national-scale pilot work on enforcing differential supervision on occupational health. The announcement came as the National Health Commission (NHC) released the National Plan for the Prevention and Control of Occupational Diseases (2021-2025) in early 2022, which urges local governments and companies to strengthen preventive measures. The pilot will cover mining, metallurgy, building materials and other industries with serious occupational disease hazards. It began on November 1, 2022, and will continue for 2 years.
The notice specified separate tasks for employers and law enforcement agencies. Employers are required to conduct a comprehensive assessment for the risks of occupational disease hazards every 3 years, which includes risk categorization, management evaluation and risk characterization.
Risk categorization
Risk categorization is divided into Category I, II, and III, which is based on hazard factors, exposure level and the number of exposed person. Notably, employers should consider the following hazard factors when determining risk categorization for occupational disease:
1. Serious hazard factors for occupational disease
Hazard factors for occupational diseases listed in the Catalogue of Highly Toxic Substances;
Asbestos fiber dust and dust with more than 10% of free silica content;
Chemical hazard factors confirmed to be carcinogenic to humans (substances marked with “G1” in GBZ 2.1);
Ionizing radiation (except Class III radiation devices, Class IV and V sealed sources, Class C unsealed source workplaces and exempted practices or sources);
Others that should be included in the scope of serious hazard factors for occupational diseases as specified by the competent health department.
2. General hazard factors for occupational disease
Hazard factors for occupational diseases other than the above-mentioned ones
Management evaluation
The employer shall conduct a self-evaluation on occupational health management and rate it as level A (90-100), level B (70-89), or level C (under 70).
Risk characterization
By combining the result of risk categorization and management evaluation, the risk level can be characterized as high, medium, or low.
For law enforcement agencies, they should build an archive based on the assessment reports received from the employer within the jurisdiction, and implement differential supervision strategies according to risk characterization results. For employers with high-risk level, stricter supervision will be conducted with a higher frequency of random inspections on site. Inspections will be carried out regularly for employers with medium-risk level. For low-risk level, inspection frequency can be reduced with sound reasons, and unless necessary, the authority can choose not to implement on-site inspections.
