Recently, China’s State Administration of Work Safety (SAWS) detailed progress made during 2017 in their national dust explosion prevention project. The major takeaway was that 3601 high risk enterprises have already been closed down.
Enterprises with varied levels of risk are subject to different remediation measures under the SAWS project. Overall, 18087 enterprises shall rectify within a prescribed time limit, 3380 will require rectification of production conditions, and 3601 were closed down. The total value of all penalties imposed on enterprises violating national requirements amounted to 35 million Yuan. There is a total of 41963 enterprises suspected as potential sites for a dust explosion, including 9680 enterprises newly established in 2017.
Despite these efforts problems still remain. For example, there are still 1635 hidden risks which have yet to be addressed in enterprises operating in the metallurgy or wood processing industry. Highlighted enterprises have at least 30 individuals working onsite. A dust explosion is especially dangerous to a crowded workplace as it would cause heavy casualties.
Based on the progress made in 2017, SAWS will spend 2 or 3 years to further promote the project. Provincial and municipal governments are suggested to carefully scrutinize enterprise operating within their jurisdiction. The following factors are to be considered during the inspection: whether the dust is explosive, and the accurate number of people working onsite. Enterprises are suggested to apply advanced technologies such as wet dust removal systems and monitoring alarms, and replace workers in high risk sites with machines and automation.
