Ministry to further crack down on work safety training violations

The Ministry of Emergency Management vowed to intensify a crackdown on work safety training violations as it strives to get a better handle on the issue.

Some companies have failed to attach adequate importance to such trainings, said Wang Lizhong, an official with the ministry.

Wang cited a deadly fire that occurred at an unnamed factory in 2019 as an example. After chemicals caught fire, a worker tried to extinguish the flames by blowing on them, kicking them and fanning them with cardboard, he said. The worker's failure to put out the fire ultimately led to the deaths of 19 factory employees.

An investigation into the case found that the company had never organized safety training courses, nor had it ever carried out evacuation drills, so its employees didn't know how to correctly respond to fire emergencies, Wang said.

Some companies merely go through the motions while conducting such trainings, he said, and some examining bodies that are authorized to issue certificates on work safety management fail to maintain strict standards during their examinations.

The ministry launched a crackdown last year to tackle the problem.

By the end of 2022, law enforcement officers and emergency management authorities across the country inspected 4,171 safety training courses. In total, they found 11,000 violations, Wang said.

As punishment, 315 training institutions were shut down, and 299 temporarily suspended operations.

They also randomly visited 281,000 companies and identified 120,000 violations, he said, adding that 61,000 companies were fined a total of 278.8 million yuan ($40.5 million).

The campaign has effectively curbed the problems uncovered with work safety training, Wang noted.

He said the ministry will consistently improve its supervision of the issue in its endeavor to prevent workplace accidents from happening.