China China releases draft guidelines for safety risk management in hazardous chemical production facility construction

China releases draft guidelines for safety risk management in hazardous chemical production facility construction

On Dec. 22, 2021, China’s Ministry of Emergency Management released a draft of preliminary guidelines for safety risk management in hazardous chemical production facility construction projects to solicit public comments, which will be accepted until Jan. 22, 2022. The guidelines are intended to help manage safety risks through all the processes of this type of construction projects and increase oversight of them. Here is an overview.

Scope

  • The guidelines apply to new construction, remodeling and extension projects of hazardous chemical production facilities that have obtained a hazardous chemical safe production license or a hazardous chemical safe use license in accordance with the law.
  • The guidelines don’t apply to construction projects for storage, assessment, mining, etc. of hazardous chemicals.

Terminology

“A hazardous chemical production construction project” (化学品生设项目) is a project of constructing chemical production facilities that produce chemicals on the Hazardous Chemical List as final products or intermediate products, in accordance with the law and with an official approval document. The 2015 version of this list contains 2,828 hazardous chemicals:
https://www.mem.gov.cn/gk/gwgg/xgxywj/wxhxp_228/201503/W020200317436190600087.pdf

Review process for projects

According to the guidelines, the review process for construction projects consists of the following steps:

  • Review for market entry approval
  • Review of the safety conditions of the project
  • Review of the designs of safety facilities
  • Construction of safety facilities
  • Test production
  • Inspection of completed safety facilities
  • Issuance of a safe production license

 

The full text of the draft preliminary guidelines (in simplified Chinese) is available at
https://www.mem.gov.cn/gk/zfxxgkpt/fdzdgknr/202112/t20211222_405416.shtml

Author / Responsibility

AOKI Kenji

Senior Consultant, EnviX Ltd.
General Director, E&H Consulting Co., Ltd.

Business Performance

Expertise in EHS (environment, health and safety) consulting in ASEAN region.
- Environmental regulations updating
- Chemical regulations consulting

Background

MSc in Earth Science, The University of Tokyo

AOKI Kenji