On December 26th, 2019, China’s Ministry of Emergency Management (MEM) issued a Notice [1] to publish the Guideline for Hazchem Enterprises on Emergency Preparations for Production Safety Accidents. Major accidents involving hazardous chemicals have been a big problem for China and have garnered huge attention both domestically and overseas. To combat and prevent these accidents, China has introduced a series of regulations and standards for the safe production of hazardous chemicals. (ChemLinked News Ⅰ [2], Ⅱ [3]) The Guideline was formulated to further improve the ability of enterprises to effectively prevent and respond to hazardous chemical accidents.
The issuance of the Notice also posed the following requirements:
The emergency management administrations and related central enterprises shall ensure the implementation of the Guideline, strengthen communication abilities and education, and instruct Hazchem enterprises to carry out emergency preparedness work;
The hazardous chemical enterprises shall learn, understand and implement all the 14 essential factors in the Guideline, to comprehensively strengthen emergency preparedness;
The local emergency management administrations shall strengthen the supervision and inspection of enterprises’ emergency preparedness, and provide effective corrective guidance to enterprises in their jurisdiction that are not fully prepared.
The 14 essential factors specified in the Guideline are shown in the below table:
Concept and theory | Organization and duty | Laws and regulations | Risk assessment | Plan management |
Monitoring and early warning | Education, training, and practice | On duty | Information management | Equipment and facilities |
Rescue team building | Emergency treatment and rescue | Emergency preparedness | Funding guarantee |
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All the essential factors constitute the specific content and assessment criteria to judge an enterprises’ emergency preparedness. More detailed requirements and reference regulations are provided in the annex of the Guideline.
