The emergency department of Shandong
announced to send eight teams monitoring hazardous chemical manufactures in
Dongying, Zibo, Weifang, and other five cities where those chemical
manufactures are located.
Each checking team spends 10 days on the
inspection in each city from May 21 to May 31. At least one chemical factory
should be inspected in those counties (cities or districts). At least two
chemical factories should be inspected in the counties where dangerous
chemicals are mainly produced. Insaiders claim that more than ten dangerous
chemical manufactories should be the target of inspection. The inspection will
take one day for each of them, but it may take longer for bigger-sized
manufactories.
In principle, the manufactories which are
listed in the plan of inspection for work safety in the year by the emergency
department should be given priority to have a spot check. Furthermore, the
government should primarily pay attention to those which had accidents of
production safety last year, those which have been reported and complained by
public, and those which have potential to cause safety accidents recently.
The inspection mainly involves the
following aspects: manufactories’ work report on chemical technology, the types
of dangerous chemicals, and the locations of major hazard installations; the
precaution against leaking, poisoning and explosion; the recognition of hidden
dangers and safety issues; education and training on dangerous chemicals;
contractor management; and emergency management.
Haozhi Zhao, the director of the Emergency
Department of Shandong, says that once officers find out that some manufacturer
is committing illegal acts, they will instantly give a notification to the
manufacturer then immediately conduct an investigation and collect relevant
evidence so that they can impose simple punishment on the site. If officers
discover there is a potential danger for causing serious accidents, the manufacturer
will be faced with the cancellation of its business license.
69 manufactories get punished as result
of the inspection
The emergency department of shandong
released a message on May 31 that the inspection of dangerous chemical
manufactories in 8 cities in shandong is finished. According to the result, 80
chemical manufactories were inspected, among which 5 factories are suspended,
and a total of 1,682 issues were found at the manufactories. In terms of the
1,682 issues, 187 notices of rectification are issued by the emergency
department and 154 legal violations are documented. Punishment are imposed for
69 manufactories.
It is found that three main problems exist
in the majority of the chemical manufactories. First, the responsibility system
of work safety is not fully implemented. Workers at these factories have a bad
understanding of assessing levels of danger. Some manufactories lack the
awareness of protecting workers from accidents. The labor protection articles
which workers are equipped with are not in standard. It is noticed that some
workers did not use them for safety during the inspection. Workers in some
manufactories do not receive any training of work safety and as a result, their
unfamiliarity of the knowledge of work safety may lead to the lack of ability
of dealing with emergency when accidents happen.
Second, the safety control of manufactories
needs to be strengthened. Some do not follow rules when they conduct
operations. Some employees work with dangerous chemicals without licenses.
Third, the maintenance of the safety devices is not enough. The management
system of particular manufactories is informal. Despite the fact that the
safety devices have already been assembled at the manufactories, regular check
and maintenance are not provided. Alarms for LEL and poisoning gas are not
updated, and the alarm value is usually set by mistakes.
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