Notice on Effectively Carrying Out Current Work on Production Safety

Tongjian’an [2017] No. 212

　　To the Construction Bureaus and Construction Engineering Bureaus of all counties (cities and districts), and to the Municipal Safety Supervision Station:

　　Recently, our city has experienced two consecutive collapses at construction sites: on July 3, 2017, Nantong Fuxin Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. suffered a collapse during outdoor stormwater and sewage works for Phase I of the China Resources Center project in Gangzha District, Nantong City, resulting in one fatality; on July 4, 2017, Fujian Bairunda Transportation Co., Ltd. experienced a collapse while constructing a manhole at the construction site of Jiangsu Minjiang Mining Co., Ltd. in Changjiang Town, Rugao City, also leading to one death. Following these accidents, the Municipal Party Committee and the Municipal Government attached great importance to the incidents, directing the immediate convening of an on-site meeting for cautionary education, further mobilization and deployment, and a comprehensive inspection of potential hazards at construction sites, with the aim of effectively ensuring workplace safety during the flood season and summer months.

　　Since the beginning of this year, our city has experienced a spate of work safety accidents. As of the end of June, a total of eight accidents of various types had occurred, resulting in eight fatalities: On January 1, 2017, Nantong Eighth Construction Group Co., Ltd. was involved in a struck-by-object accident at the R14056 site (Wanhao Villa) project, causing one death; on February 12, 2017, Jiangsu Dagong Construction Co., Ltd. suffered a fall-from-height accident at the Phase II construction of Production Workshops No. 1–4 at Asia-Pacific Light Alloy (Nantong) Technology Co., Ltd., resulting in one fatality; on March 16, 2017, Jiangsu Longxin Construction Co., Ltd. experienced a struck-by-object fatal accident at the No. 12 building project of the Phase 2.1 development of Haimen Longxin Plaza, claiming one life; on March 25, 2017, Jiangsu Junhongchen Construction Co., Ltd. reported a fatal accident during construction at the joint workshop of Tongzhou Fafafa Building Materials Factory, leading to one death; on March 28, 2017, Nantong Zhongfang Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. was involved in an equipment-related accident at the teaching and training building project of Nantong Shipping College, which resulted in two fatalities; at around 8:00 a.m. on June 2, 2017, Nantong Tsinghua Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. experienced a fire at the resettlement housing project on the CR10005 site (Hongdong Huayuan), with approximately 20 square meters of area affected and economic losses estimated at about RMB 3,000; at around 5:20 p.m. on June 17, 2017, Nantong Binpeng Construction Engineering Co., Ltd. suffered a struck-by-object accident at the bleaching workshop of Nantong Tianyi Textile Printing and Dyeing Co., Ltd., resulting in one fatality; and at around 7:08 a.m. on June 21, 2017, Tongzhou Construction General Group Co., Ltd. was involved in an accident at the Phase I construction of the second phase of the Nantong Shuangyi Entrepreneurship Park (Buildings No. 15, 16, and 19), which claimed one life.

　　In order to comprehensively implement the series of decisions and arrangements on work safety issued by the central, provincial, and municipal governments, and in accordance with the requirements of “full coverage, zero tolerance, strict law enforcement, and emphasis on practical results,” we will thoroughly learn from past accidents, conduct in-depth hazard identification and remediation, severely crack down on illegal and unlawful activities in the field of work safety, effectively prevent and curb the occurrence of work safety accidents, and promote a steady and improving trend in our city’s work safety situation. In light of the requirements set forth at the emergency meeting on work safety held on July 7, the following clarifications are hereby made regarding the next steps:

　　I. Immediately Launch a Comprehensive Safety Production Inspection

　　The Construction Bureaus and Construction Engineering Bureaus of all counties (cities and districts), together with the Municipal Safety Supervision Station, shall immediately organize all ongoing construction projects within their jurisdictions to conduct a comprehensive safety production inspection. On the basis of self-inspection and self-correction by all participating construction entities, any hazards and problems identified during the inspection must be promptly addressed through effective corrective measures. At the same time, construction administrative authorities at all levels shall conduct random spot checks in a timely manner; for any issues discovered during such checks, they shall order work to be suspended for rectification and ensure thorough follow-up inspections and re-examinations to verify that corrective actions have been properly implemented. All localities are requested to submit a report on the results of the comprehensive inspection to the Safety Supervision Division of the Nantong Municipal Bureau of Urban and Rural Construction by the end of business on July 20. Our Bureau will conduct supervisory inspections as appropriate.

　　II. Strictly Implement the Safety Production Responsibility System

　　1. Strictly implement the principal responsibility of enterprises. In accordance with the requirements of the “Notice of the Nantong Municipal Bureau of Urban and Rural Construction on Issuing the Action Plan for the Year of Enhancing the Implementation of Principal Safety Production Responsibilities by Construction Enterprises” (Tong Jian’an [2017] No. 29), all employees of enterprises must be held accountable for safety production; the legal representative and the de facto controller of the enterprise shall both serve as the primary persons responsible for safety production; members of the management team shall assume “dual responsibilities” for their respective posts; and all employees shall fulfill their safety production duties in their respective positions. It is essential to ensure that safety responsibilities, safety management, safety investment, safety training, and emergency rescue are all fully in place. Competent authorities at all levels shall supervise enterprises to effectively implement their principal responsibilities and continue to submit relevant information as required.

　　2. Strictly implement departmental regulatory responsibilities. In accordance with the principle of “joint responsibility of the Party and the government for work safety, dual responsibility for each post, and accountability for dereliction of duty,” the principal heads of the construction bureaus and construction engineering bureaus in all counties, county-level cities, and districts shall be the primary persons responsible for work safety. Following the requirement that “those who oversee an industry must also oversee its safety, and those who manage business operations must ensure their safety,” the respective heads in charge shall bear direct leadership responsibility for work safety within their respective areas of responsibility. Adhering to the principles of “local jurisdiction” and “whoever is in charge is responsible,” we will ensure that each level takes charge of the next and that implementation is carried out step by step at every level.

　　III. Strengthening Special Rectification in Key Areas

　　1. Conduct in-depth hazard identification and remediation. Urge enterprises to further implement the self-inspection and self-correction system for hazards, establishing a closed-loop management mechanism for self-identification, self-reporting, and self-remediation of hazards. Develop and refine a accountability system for failure to address identified hazards within prescribed timeframes, and ensure that enterprises complete rectification within the stipulated deadlines. Focus special remediation efforts on high-risk construction lifting equipment, high-formwork systems, deep excavations, scaffolding, and other critical areas; establish a tiered monitoring and remediation system for hazards, assign specific oversight and supervision to major hazards, and effectively eliminate such significant safety risks.

　　2. Strengthen the prevention and control management of major hazard sources. Improve the ledger management and inspection systems for all major hazard sources, concentrate resources on implementing targeted supervision, and rigorously enforce the “Safety Management Measures for Highly Hazardous Sub-projects” and the “Notice on Issuing Key Safety Points for the Construction of Five Highly Hazardous Sub-projects, Including Lifting Machinery and Excavation Works,” both promulgated by the Ministry of Housing and Urban–Rural Development. Systematically conduct reviews of specialized construction plans for highly hazardous sub-projects, and strictly apply the expert appraisal system to large-scale projects exceeding a certain scale, so as to prevent major work safety accidents.

　　IV. Strengthen Inspection and Law Enforcement

　　1. Deepen the “crackdown on illegal activities and rectification of violations” campaign for work safety. In response to weak links and prominent problems, develop and implement targeted measures to ensure that the “four strict requirements”—suspension of operations for rectification, closure and prohibition, imposition of maximum penalties, and stringent accountability—are effectively enforced. For projects where accidents occur, in addition to suspending work and ordering rectification at the accident-affected section, all other sections must also be suspended for rectification; resumption of work shall be permitted only after passing a re-inspection by the competent authorities. Strengthen on-site supervision of the daily construction activities of construction enterprises, closely integrate on-site compliance with routine assessments conducted through the credit management platform, and incorporate credit assessment results into tendering and bidding processes.

　　2. Innovate approaches to engineering safety oversight. All localities and departments shall adopt the “four noes and two direct” inspection methodology and intensify safety enforcement inspections. In construction projects, implement differentiated regulatory measures: for projects where on-site construction management is inadequate or relevant safety measures are not properly implemented, increase the frequency of routine patrols and random inspections and strengthen supervision and management. For projects that fail to act on supervisory recommendations from the competent authorities or repeatedly fail to achieve satisfactory rectification, in addition to disqualifying them from consideration for civilised construction site and high-quality project awards at all levels, temporarily suspend their credit manuals or, upon recommendation to the provincial department, temporarily suspend their work safety production licenses, among other appropriate measures.

　　Nantong Municipal Bureau of Urban and Rural Construction

　　July 10, 2017