Hebei Issues Safety Production Evaluation Standards for Chemical Firms - NEWSDESK

Safety Production Evaluation Standards for Chemical Firms in Hebei Province was recently issued, and it details 14 unqualified behaviors in the firms mainly including:

* External safety distance of production and storage facilities does not meet national standards

* Chemical facilities in service are not designed by appropriately qualified design units

* Tank fields of hazardous chemicals have no emergency cut-off function and independent SIS (Safety Instrumentation System)

* Fixed leakage detection and alarm devices for gases that are combustible, poisonous or pernicious are not installed in flammable, explosive and toxic areas

* Production devices that may cause a fire or an explosion are not equipped with overtemperature and overpressure measuring instruments, sound-light alarm and safety interlock devices, etc.

* In the storage tank areas for hazardous chemicals, firms do not set up (according to relevant regulations) devices for alarming liquid level, ultra-high level automatic interlock devices to close tank feeding valve and ultra-low level automatic interlock devices to stop material conveying

* Pipelines for poisonous gases (e.g. phosgene and chlorine) and hydrogen sulfide gas pass through public regions outside the plant areas (including chemical parks, industrial parks)

Firms with any one of the 14 unqualified behaviors will be included in the “list of companies required to shut down”. Meanwhile, related departments will evaluate the chemical firms from nine aspects – layout, organization, personnel allocation & responsibility, production process & operation safety, equipment safety, risk control & potential risk identification, storage & packaging, production safety and emergency management. Enterprises scoring less than 60 will be included in the “list of companies required to shut down”, those scoring 60-80 in the “list of companies required to transform”, and those scoring over 80 in the “list of companies required to become more competitive”. Further, the “list of companies required to relocate to chemical parks” includes those located in densely populated urban areas, not in line with city development plans, and failing to meet external safety distance standards.