Procedures of Shanghai Municipality on the Screening, Identification and Control of Work Safety Accident Hazards

(Promulgated by Decree No. 91 of Shanghai Municipal People's Government on November 20, 2012; amended according to Decree No. 13 of Shanghai Municipal People's Government on April 2, 2024)

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1 (Purposes and Basis)

With a view to establishing and improving the mechanisms for the screening, identification and control of work safety accident hazards, implementing production and operation units' responsibility as the subjects for work safety, preventing and reducing accidents, and protecting the life and property safety of the masses of the people, these Procedures are formulated in accordance with the Law of the People's Republic of China on Work Safety, Regulations of Shanghai Municipality on Work Safety, and other relevant laws and rules.

Article 2 (Scope of Application)

These Procedures apply to the screening, identification and control of work safety accident hazards and the supervision and management thereof in the production and operation units within the administrative area of this Municipality.

Should laws, rules or regulations provide otherwise for the screening, identification and control of work safety accident hazards in firefighting, road transportation, railway and water transportation, and civil aviation, nuclear and radiation, special equipment and for the supervision and management thereof, such provisions shall prevail.

Article 3 (Definition)

"Work safety accident hazards" (hereinafter referred as the "accident hazards" ) as used in these Procedures refer to the dangerous status of objects, people's unsafe acts and defects in management that may cause accidents in production and operation activities, resulting from violations of provisions of work safety laws, rules, regulations, standards, procedures and management rules or other factors on the part of those enterprises and individually-owned businesses that engage in production and operation activities, as well as other operation organizations that can bear civil liability independently (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "production and operation units").

Article 4 (Subject of Responsibility)

Production and operation units are the subjects of responsibility for the screening, identification and control of accident hazards.

The legal representative of a production or operation unit and the person actually having the highest administrative authority for the unit's production or operation (hereinafter collectively referred to as the "chief person-in-charge") are the first persons responsible for the screening, identification and control of accident hazards in their own units, who are fully responsible for the screening, identification and control of accident hazards in their own units, and shall perform the following duties:

1. presiding over the formulation of various rules and regulations on the screening, identification and control of accident hazards;

2. establishing and optimizing the responsibility system for work safety;

3. ensuring relevant fund input in the screening, identification and control of accident hazards;

4. organizing comprehensive screening and identification of accident hazards on a regular basis; 

5. and supervising and inspecting work safety program, so as to eliminate accident hazards in a timely manner.

Article 5 (Government Duties)

The municipal and district people's governments shall strengthen leadership in the screening, identification and control of accident hazards within their respective administrative areas.

The work safety commissions under the municipal and district people's governments and their offices shall be responsible for overall planning and coordination with regard to major issues involved in the screening, identification and control of accident hazards.

The town/township people's governments, sub-district offices and management agencies of functional areas such as development zones, industrial parks, port areas, and scenic areas (hereinafter collectively referred to as "functional areas") shall do well relevant work related to the screening, identification and control of accident hazards within their own jurisdictions according to law.

Article 6 (Division of Work among Departments)

The departments of emergency management, public security, housing and urban-rural development, market regulation, transportation, economy and informatization, water affairs, agriculture and rural affairs, ecology and environment, fire prevention and rescue and other departments and agencies that are charged with supervisory and management responsibilities for the safe production work of relevant industries and fields (hereinafter collectively referred to as "departments with supervisory responsibilities for work safety") shall supervise and manage the screening, identification and control of accident hazards within the scope of their duties, according to the provisions of laws, rules, and regulations, as well as provisions of this Municipality's work safety commission on the duty of the member units with respect to work safety.

Besides undertaking the duties provided for in Clause 1 of this Article, the emergency management department shall guide, coordinate and supervise relevant departments of the people's government at the same level and the people's governments at lower levels in their supervision and management of the screening, identification and control of accident hazards.

The competent departments in industries and fields such as commerce, education, technology, civil affairs, ethnic and religious affairs, as well as state-owned asset regulatory agencies, shall make the screening, identification and control of accident hazards an important part of safety production management in their respective industries and fields. They shall guide and supervise production and operation units in these industries and fields to strengthen the investigation and management of accident hazards, implement preventive measures, and fulfill their safety production responsibilities.

Other relevant departments shall, according to the provisions of this Municipality's work safety commission on the duty of the member units with respect to work safety, cooperate in doing relevant work of supervision and management of the screening, identification and control of accident hazards.

Article 7 (Division of Work)

The municipal-level departments with supervisory responsibilities for work safety shall decide on the specific categories of production and operation units to be placed under their supervision, and the district departments with supervisory responsibilities for work safety shall be in charge of supervision over other production and operation units within their own administrative areas.

Article 8 (Offence Reporting and Rewarding)

All units and individuals have the right to report to the departments with supervisory responsibilities for work safety any accident hazards that are identified. Upon receiving such reports, the latter shall lose no time in verifying and handling them according to their respective functions and duties. If such reports fall within the scope of another department’s duties, they shall be transferred immediately to the department with jurisdiction for verification and handling.

Anyone who reports a production or operation unit's illegal act related to the screening, identification and control of accident hazards that proves to be true upon verification shall be rewarded according to relevant provisions by the departments with supervisory responsibilities for work safety. The departments with supervisory responsibilities for work safety shall maintain the secrecy of the reporter.

Chapter II Production and Operation Units' Responsibility for the Screening, Identification and Control of Accident Hazards

Article 9 (Rules for the Screening, Identification and Control of Accident Hazards)

Production and operation units shall, according to the laws, rules, regulations, standards and procedures on work safety, establish safety management rules for accident hazards screening, identification, registration, reporting and rectification, define the accident hazards screening, identification and control responsibilities of the persons in charge of the units, departments/workshops, and teams, as well as employees at specific posts and see to their implementation.

Article 10 (Education and Training)

Production and operation units shall strengthen safety education and training among their employees, and ensure that they are familiar with the safety management rules and regulations and have corresponding technical capabilities and work safety knowledge required for the duties of their posts.

Article 11 (Day-to-day Screening and Identification of Accident Hazards)

Work safety management personnel and other employees shall carry out regular work safety checks according to the duties of their posts, so as to discover in a timely manner the dangerous status present in the process systems, infrastructures, technical equipment and controlling/monitoring facilities and the defects in fulfilling work safety responsibilities, implementing labor disciplines and conducting on-the-spot management.

In case any accident hazards are discovered, work safety management personnel and other employees shall report them to the person directly responsible and handle them in a timely manner, and, if any emergency situation is discovered, directly endangering personal safety, they shall have the right to stop the operation, or to evacuate the workplace upon taking possible emergency measures.

Article 12 (Periodic Screening, Identification and Control of Accident Hazards)

The chief person-in-charge and the person in charge of work safety in a production or operation unit shall organize work safety management personnel, professional technicians and other relevant personnel on a periodic basis to conduct comprehensive screening, identification and control of accident hazards, including, inter alia:

1. status of implementation of the laws, rules, regulations, standards and procedures on work safety, and of establishing and implementation of work safety responsibility system, rules and regulations, as well as post operation codes;

2. status of formulating and drilling in emergency/rescue procedures, and provision and maintenance of emergency rescue materials and equipment;

3. status of facilities, equipment, devices and tools, and that of their day-to-day repair, maintenance, check and testing;

4. status of on-site safety management of accident prone areas, such as such as blasting, hoisting, trial production of hazardous equipment, hot work, temporary electricity use, limited (confined) space operations, and major hazard source operations,etc.;

5. status of construction of a general survey and filing of major danger sources, risk identification, and monitoring and early warning systems, and of implementing those measures;

6. status of providing, issuing and wearing labor protection supplies, and the employees' physical and mental health conditions; 

7. and status of safety education and training received by employees, the safety knowledge and operation skills mastered by them, and special operators' and special equipment operators’ training, examination and assignment to posts with relevant certificates.

Article 13 (Classification of Accident Hazards)

Upon discovering an accident hazard, production or operation units shall launch a corresponding emergency plan, take measures to ensure safety, and organize professional technicians, experts or professional institutions with corresponding qualifications to analyze and determine the level of the accident hazard.

Accident hazards are divided into general accident hazards and major accident hazards. Major accident hazards refer to hazards determined in accordance with the relevant national standards for major accident hazard assessment. General accident hazards refer to other accident hazards besides major accident hazards

Article 14 (Handling of Accident Hazards)

Production and operation units shall take measures to eliminate the general accident hazards under the condition of ensuring safety.

Production and operation units shall handle the major accident hazards according to the following provisions:

1. stopping use of relevant facilities and equipment and stopping production or operation partially or completely as needed;

2. organizing professional technicians, experts or professional institutions with corresponding qualification to conduct risk assessment, so as to determine the current status, causes, degree of danger, and degree of difficulty of rectification of the accident hazards;

3. formulating control plans according to the result of risk assessment, and defining the control goals and measures, persons responsible, expenses and material conditions required, time limit, monitoring safeguards and emergency measures; 

4. and implementing the control plans to eliminate the accident hazards.

Production and operation units shall promptly report the investigation and treatment of major accident hazards to the departments responsible for work safety, the staff assembly, or the staff representative assembly.

Article 15 (Monitoring Safeguards)

In the process of accident hazards control, production and operation units shall take necessary monitoring safeguards. If safety can not be guaranteed before or in the process of accident hazard elimination, operators shall be evacuated from the dangerous area, other persons who may be endangered shall also be evacuated, warning signs shall be put up, and personnel shall be assigned to guard the area if necessary.

Article 16 (Information Archives)

Production and operation units shall establish information archives of accident hazards screening, identification and control to keep truthful records of accident hazards screening, identification and control.

The information archives of accident hazards screening, identification and control shall include the following contents:

1. time of accident hazards screening and identification;

2. specific positions or sites of accident hazards screening and identification;

3. number, level and specific conditions of accident hazards identified;

4. people participating in hazards screening and identification and their signatures; 

5. and result of accident hazards control and findings of review, time of review, reviewers and their signatures.

The information archives of accident hazards screening, identification and control shall be kept for at least two years.

Article 17 (Duta Submission)

Production and operation units with high risks such as hazardous chemicals, mines, metal smelting, building construction, and transportation, etc. shall strengthen the information management of accident hazards screening, identification and control, use digital technology to carry out accident hazard investigation and treatment work, and submit real-time, accurate, and complete accident hazard investigation and treatment data to departments responsible for safety production supervision in accordance with requirements.

The scope, elements, and paths of data submission as prescribed in the preceding Paragraph shall be implemented in accordance with the relevant guidelines or standards formulated by the department responsible for work safety supervision at the municipal level.

Article 18 (Contracting and Leasing Management)

If a production or operation unit contracts or leases a production or operation project or site to another unit, it shall have the responsibility for unified coordination and management of the contractor's or lessee's accident hazards screening, identification and control; if an accident hazard is identified in the contractor or lessee, it shall promptly urge the contractor or lessee to institute control measures.

The contractor or lessee shall obey the production or operation unit in the latter's unified coordination and management of accident hazards screening, identification and control.

Article 19 (Awarding and Punishment System)

Production and operation units shall establish an awarding and punishment system for accident hazards screening, identification and control and encourage their employees to discover and eliminate accident hazards, awarding and commending those who perform meritorious acts in discovering and eliminating accident hazards, and punishing as provided for those who conceal accident hazards or fail to screen, identify or control such hazards effectively.

Article 20 (Fund Support)

Production and operation units shall guarantee the fund needed for accident hazards screening, identification and control, which shall be disbursed from the annual fund for work safety and used exclusively for its specified purpose; if the fund needed for accident hazards screening, identification and control exceeds the annual budget for work safety, the budget shall be adjusted in a timely manner.

Chapter III Supervision and Management

Article 21 (Formulation and Implementation of the Annual Supervision and Inspection Plan)

The departments with supervisory responsibilities for work safety shall formulate annual supervision and inspection plans to define the frequency, way, key industries and contents of supervision and inspection, and keep corresponding supervision and inspection records. If an accident hazard is discovered in the supervision and inspection, the departments with supervisory responsibilities for work safety shall order immediate control or control within a time limit, and organize recheck in a timely manner.

Article 22 (Day-to-day Supervision and Inspection by Sub-districts, Towns/Townships and Industrial Parks)

Upon discovering accident hazards in the course of their day-to-day supervision and inspection of work safety conducted according to law, town/township people's governments, sub-district offices and functional areas administrative institutions shall order the production or operation unit to eliminate them immediately or to control them within a time limit, and report to the departments with supervisory responsibilities for work safety.

Article 23 (On Site Handling of Major Accident Hazards)

If safety cannot be guaranteed before or during the elimination of major accident hazards, the department responsible for work safety shall order the evacuation of workers from the hazardous area, temporarily suspend production and operation, or stop using relevant facilities and equipment; after major accident hazards are eliminated, production, operation, and use can only be resumed with approval after review.

Article 24 (Transfer)

Upon discovering an accident hazard that falls within another department's competence, the departments with supervisory responsibilities for work safety shall transfer in a timely manner relevant documents to the department that has the jurisdiction, and shall keep the record for reference.

Article 25 (Collection and Analysis of Supervision and Inspection Information)

This Municipality shall establish an information system for accident hazards screening, identification and control, the day-to-day operation and management of which shall be in the charge of the municipal emergency management department, to accept, collect, analyze and report the information on accident hazards screening, identification and control.

The district-level departments with supervisory responsibilities for work safety shall collect and collate on a monthly basis such information as the supervision and inspection records, and transmit them to the departments with supervisory responsibilities for work safety at the next higher level and to the emergency management departments at the same level.

The municipal-level departments with supervisory responsibilities for work safety and distric emergency management departments shall collect and collate on a month basis such information as the supervision and inspection records and transmit them to the municipal emergency management department.

Article 26 (Listing Supervision of Major Accident Hazards)

For the following major accident hazards, the department with supervisory responsibilities for work safety shall be listed for supervision or submit to the people's government at the same level for listing supervision:

1. major accident hazards that are highly dangerous and may cause serious consequences or significant social impact;

2. major accident hazards that are difficult to manage and require a long period of systematic rectification to be eliminated;

3. major accident hazards that are difficult for production and operation units to eliminate independently due to external factors;

4. major accident hazards discovered through supervision and inspection by higher-level governments or relevant departments, and required to be listed for supervision; 

5. or major accident hazards that require temporary suspension of production or operation or cessation of use of related facilities and equipment.

The department with supervisory responsibilities for work safety shall cooperate with production and operation units to establish and improve a closed-loop management system of "listing, rectification, acceptance, and cancellation" for major accident hazards listed for supervision, strengthen the tracking supervision and dynamic supervision of major accident hazards rectification of production and operation units, guide and assist production and operation units in solving relevant major problems during the rectification process, and supervise production and operation units to rectify them in a timely manner.

For the major accident hazards listed for supervision, it is necessary to clearly specify the project name, supervisory department, production and operation unit responsible for governance (hereinafter referred to as the "governance unit"), as well as governance goals, measures, time limits, and other matters. If it involves supervision by multiple departments, the emergency management department shall report to the same level people's government to designate the leading supervision department and the cooperating supervision department.

Article 27 (Governance of Listed Supervision Projects)

The governance unit shall carry out governance on major accident hazards that are listed for supervision in accordance with the determined goals, measures, and time limits.

The supervisor departments shall check on the progress at least once a month, and hold one update meeting at least once a quarter, so as to guide and coordinate efforts to solve the problems encountered in the process of governance, and they shall provide technical support for the governance of accident hazards which are not caused by the production or operation unit and are difficult for the governance unit to eliminate.

If a governance project is completed in the main, the governance unit shall organize professional technicians, experts or entrust professional institutions with corresponding qualifications to make governance assessment. If the assessment proves that governance goals have been achieved, the supervisor department shall organize relevant professional technicians and experts to make on-site verification. If the verification proves that the governance goals have been achieved, the supervised implementation shall be lifted and the emergency management department at the same level shall be notified thereof; if the governance goals have not been achieved, the supervisor department shall order the continuation of rectification and governance in accordance with the law until the governance goals are achieved.

If the governance goals can not be achieved on time due to objective reasons, the governance unit shall explain the reasons and the adjusted governance plan to the supervisor department. Upon granting approval for the delay after verification, the supervisor department shall report the relevant information to the emergency management department at the same level.

Article 28 (Professionals' Participation in Supervision and Management)

The departments with supervisory responsibilities for work safety, town/township people's governments, sub-district offices and functional areas administrative institutions may invite professional technicians, experts and scholars to participate in the supervision and management according to the actual need, to listen to their opinions on professional and technical issues.

Article 29 (Credit Information Recording and Reporting)

If a production or operation unit fails to govern an accident hazard effectively and is held responsible, the department with supervisory responsibilities for work safety shall, as provided for, put that into the credit information record of the unit and the chief person-in-charge thereof, report relevant information to the departments of market supervision, development & reform, planning and resources, housing and urban-rural development and local finance supervision, and publicize such information via government websites or news media.

Chapter IV Legal Liabilities

Article 30 (Legal Liability Guidelines)

Any behavior that violates the provisions of these Procedures shall be dealt with in accordance with the provisions of laws and rules such as the Safety Production Law of the People's Republic of China and Regulation of Shanghai Municipality on Safety Production.

Article 31 (Legal Responsibilities of Supervision and Management Department)

If a staff member of a department with supervisory responsibilities for work safety falls under any of the following circumstances, he/she shall be punished in accordance with the law; if a crime is constituted, criminal responsibility shall be pursued in accordance with the law:

1. failing to handle the accident hazards as required upon receiving the reports on such hazards;

2. failing to fulfill supervision and inspection responsibilities for the screening, identification and control of accident hazards in production and operation units in accordance with the provisions of these Procedures, resulting in consequences;

3. for those who discover illegal activities in the screening, identification and control of accident hazards in production and operation units, failing to investigate and deal with them in a timely manner, or have sheltered or condoned the illegal activities, resulting in consequences.

4. imposing administrative penalties illegally; 

5. or other behaviors of dereliction of duty, abuse of power, and favoritism and fraud.

Chapter V Supplementary Provision

Article 32 (Effective Date)

These Procedures shall be effective as of January 1, 2013.