Accidents down, safety up at country's chemical plants

China has managed to greatly reduce the number of accidents and casualties in its chemical industry since 2019, according to the Ministry of Emergency Management.

"Thanks to the joint endeavors of various government bodies, the safety situation in the hazardous chemical sector continues to be stable," Sun Guangyu, a senior official for hazardous chemical supervision at the ministry told a news conference on Tuesday.

In 2021, 122 accidents occurred in the chemical industry, down by 15.3 percent from 2020 and by 25.6 percent from 2019, he said. Accidents claimed 150 lives, 28 less than in 2020 and 124 less than in 2019.

"No particularly serious accident has happened in the sector for more than 30 months, which is the longest span without this type of accident ever recorded in the country," he continued.

In China, 'particularly serious accidents' usually refer to accidents that claim more than 30 lives, seriously injure over 100 or cause economic losses in excess of 100 million yuan ($15.7 million).

A year after the deadly accident that claimed 78 lives at the Tianjiayi chemical plant in Xiangshui in Jiangsu province on March 21, 2019, Chinese central authorities published a guideline dedicated to enhancing production safety in the hazardous chemical industry. A series of actions followed, Sun said.

Aside from hammering out tailored measures for each of the country's 601 chemical industrial parks, he said, authorities nationwide have worked to shut down illegal small-scale chemical plants, upgrade outdated ones, suspend the operations of businesses with safety hazards requiring rectification, as well as moving plants out of densely populated areas.

He said efforts have also been made to promote intelligent management. A risk monitoring and early warning system, for example, has been established and put into operation.

China's chemical industry has been the largest in the world since 2010. Currently, it produces 40 percent of the world's total output, according to the ministry.