On May 19, China State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS), Ministry of Transport (MOT) and National Railway Administration (NRA) published a joint notice announcing the Work Plan for Special Program on Safe Storage of Hazardous Chemicals.
The special program will target hazardous chemical storage facilities including tank yards, warehouses, stacking yards, etc. in the production, operation and transport sectors. Storage facilities identified as major hazard installations (GB 18218-2009 & SAWS Order 40) and containing explosives such as ammonium nitrate, toxic gases, flammable liquids (Class A & B in accordance with GB 50016-2014 Code for Fire Protection Design of Buildings) and liquefied gases are of prioritized concerns.
The program is divided into 3 phases and will begin in May ~ July with information dissemination activities, preparations and enterprises’ self-inspections. Intensive law enforcement inspections of work safety administrations, transport departments and railway administrations will be carried out from August through October. Conclusion and review report will be submitted to the State Council in November.
Key items of the inspection checklist will include:
1. Approval and acceptance of the construction plan of the storage facilities; safety distance (refer to Criteria for Acceptable Individual Risk and Social Risk from Production and Storage of Hazardous Chemicals)
2. Operation permit (refer to SAWS Order 55) and conformity with the construction and operation requirements
3. The establishment and implementation of work safety liability system and safety management regime
4. Appointment of professional safety management and employee training, certification and awareness and preparedness of chemical safety risks
5. Identification, assessment and record filing of major hazard installations (refer to SAWS Order 40 and GB 18218-2009)
6. Safety instruments, monitoring system, alarm and shutdown systems, and emergency response procedures
7. Violations relating to the requirement that Division 1.1 & 1.2 explosives (in accordance with GB 6944-2012 Classification and Code of Dangerous Goods) and ammonium nitrate shall not be stored in port areas, safety distance and segregation of explosive and flammable materials and toxic materials, maximum storage capacity, height limit, rough handling during loading and unloading, etc.
8. Management of special work (see CL news 2015-08-06) and other preventative or risk control measures
9. Vendor management, including qualification assurance, safety communication, surveillance, etc.
10. Chemical accident prevention and contingency plan, training and rehearsals
11. Self-inspection and rectification results
