Safety regulations for dust explosion prevention in industrial and trade enterprises

(Announced by Ministry of Emergency Management Order No. 6 on July 25, 2021, effective September 1, 2021)

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1These Regulations are formulated in accordance with the Occupational Safety and Health Law of the People's Republic of China and other laws and regulations in order to strengthen dust explosion prevention and safety work in industrial and commercial enterprises, prevent and reduce dust explosion accidents, and protect the lives of employees.

Article 2These regulations apply to dust explosion prevention safety work and its supervision and management in industrial and trade enterprises such as metallurgy, nonferrous metals, building materials, machinery, light industry, textiles, tobacco, and commerce (hereinafter referred to as dust explosion-related enterprises) that have the risk of combustible dust explosion.

Article 3The combustible dust referred to in these regulations refers to dust, fibers or flying catkins that can undergo violent oxidation reactions with gaseous oxidants (mainly air) under atmospheric conditions.

The dust explosion hazardous places referred to in these regulations are places where combustible dust and gaseous oxidants (mainly air) exist. They can be divided into different hazardous areas according to the frequency or duration of explosive environments.

Article 4Dust explosion-related enterprises shall bear the main responsibility for dust explosion prevention safety work, and shall have the dust explosion prevention safety production conditions stipulated by relevant laws, regulations, rules, national standards or industry standards, establish and improve the safety production responsibility system for all employees and relevant rules and regulations, strengthen the standardization and informatization of safety production, establish a dual prevention mechanism of safety risk classification management and hidden danger investigation and control, improve the risk prevention and resolution mechanism, and ensure safe production.

Article 5The departments responsible for production safety supervision and management of dust-related explosion enterprises in local people's governments at or above the county level (hereinafter referred to as the departments responsible for safety supervision of dust-related explosion enterprises) shall, in accordance with the duties prescribed by the people's governments at the same level and in accordance with the principle of hierarchical territoriality, supervise and manage the dust explosion prevention safety work of dust-related explosion enterprises within their administrative regions.

The emergency management department of the State Council should strengthen guidance and supervision.

Chapter II Safety Production Guarantee

Article 6The main person in charge of a dust explosion-related enterprise is the first person responsible for dust explosion prevention and safety work, and other persons in charge are responsible for dust explosion prevention and safety work within their respective responsibilities.

Dust explosion-prone enterprises should clearly define the dust explosion safety responsibilities of the main person in charge, relevant department heads, production workshop managers and dust operation personnel in their unit's production safety responsibility system.

Article 7Enterprises involved in dust explosions should establish and implement a dust explosion prevention safety management system based on their actual conditions. The dust explosion prevention safety management system should include the following contents:

(1) Dust explosion risk identification, assessment, and control;

(2) Investigation and control of potential dust explosion hazards;

(3) Safety operating procedures for dust-related work positions;

(4) Special production safety education and training on dust explosion prevention;

(5) Dust cleaning and disposal;

(6) Operation, maintenance, inspection and repair management of dust removal systems and related safety facilities and equipment;

(7) Emergency response and rescue of dust explosion accidents.

Article 8Dust explosion-related enterprises should organize special dust explosion prevention safety production education and training for relevant persons in charge of production, equipment, safety management, etc. involved in dust explosion prevention, and relevant practitioners in dust operation positions, so that they understand the explosion risks in the workplace and work positions, and master the prevention and emergency measures for dust explosion accidents; those who have not passed the education and training shall not be allowed to work.

Dust explosion-related enterprises should truthfully record the time, content, and assessment of special dust explosion prevention safety education and training, and include them in the employee education and training files.

Article 9Dust explosion-prone enterprises should provide labor protection equipment that meets national or industry standards for employees in dust-related work positions, and supervise and educate employees to wear and use them in accordance with the rules.

Article 10Enterprises exposed to dust explosions must develop emergency response plans for dust explosions and conduct regular drills in accordance with the law. Following a fire or dust explosion, enterprises exposed to dust explosions must immediately initiate an emergency response and evacuate all personnel to a safe location. Emergency measures that may cause dust emissions must not be employed.

Article 11Dust explosion-related enterprises should regularly identify dust explosion hazard factors such as dust clouds and ignition sources, determine the location and scope of dust explosion-hazardous places, and evaluate and determine the safety risk level of relevant hazardous places based on key factors such as dust explosion characteristics and the number of dust-related workers. They should formulate and implement management and control measures, clarify responsible departments and personnel, establish a safety risk list, and promptly maintain information files on the safety risk identification, assessment, and management processes.

Dust explosion-related enterprises should set up safety warning signs in processes, places, facilities, equipment and positions with greater dust explosion risk factors.

If there are changes in processes, sites, facilities and equipment involving dust explosion hazards, dust explosion-related enterprises should re-conduct safety risk identification and assessment.

Article 12Dust explosion-prone enterprises should establish an accident hazard investigation list in accordance with the "Dust Explosion Prevention Safety Regulations" and other relevant national standards or industry standards, combined with dust explosion risk control measures, clarify and refine the investigation items, specific content, investigation cycle and responsible personnel, organize accident hazard investigation and control in a timely manner, truthfully record the hazard investigation and control situation, and report it to the practitioners.

For major accident hazards as defined in the standards for determining major accident hazards in the industrial and commercial sectors, a control plan should be formulated in accordance with relevant regulations, and measures, responsibilities, funds, time limits and emergency plans should be implemented to eliminate the accident hazards in a timely manner.

Article 13The design and construction of safety facilities for new construction, reconstruction and expansion of engineering projects involving dust explosion hazards in dust explosion-related enterprises shall comply with the "Dust Explosion Safety Regulations" and other relevant national standards or industry standards, and the relevant content of dust explosion prevention shall be clearly stated in the safety facility design documents and construction plans.

The design unit shall be responsible for the design of safety facilities related to dust explosion prevention, and the construction unit shall carry out construction in accordance with the design and be responsible for the construction quality.

Article 14The structure and layout of buildings (structures) in dust explosion-prone enterprises with dust explosion hazards shall comply with the "Dust Explosion Safety Regulations" and other relevant national standards or industry standards, and fire prevention, explosion prevention, lightning protection and other measures shall be taken. The roof of a single-story factory building shall generally adopt a light structure, and the roof of a multi-story factory building shall be a frame structure, and a pressure relief area that meets the requirements of relevant standards shall be set.

Dust explosion-prone enterprises should strictly control the number of workers in dust explosion hazardous areas. Employee dormitories, lounges, offices, conference rooms, etc. shall not be set up in dust explosion hazardous areas. The fire protection distance between dust explosion hazardous areas and other factories, warehouses, and civil buildings shall comply with the provisions of the "Code for Fire Protection Design of Buildings".

Article 15Enterprises involved in dust explosions should, in accordance with the relevant national standards or industry standards such as the "Dust Explosion Prevention Safety Regulations", set up dust removal systems in dust explosion-hazardous areas relatively independently according to different process areas. Combustible dust shall not share a dust removal system with flammable gases and other media that may increase explosion hazards. Dust removal systems in different fire protection zones shall not be interconnected. Process equipment with dust explosion hazards shall adopt one or more explosion control measures such as explosion venting, explosion isolation, inerting, explosion suppression, and explosion resistance, but explosion isolation measures shall not be taken alone. It is prohibited to use dust settling chambers for dust removal or to use tunnel-type structures as dust removal ducts. Metal dusts such as aluminum and magnesium shall be removed by negative pressure. Other dusts are limited by process conditions and when blown by positive pressure, reliable measures to prevent ignition sources shall be taken.

Dust explosion-prone enterprises using dry dust collection systems should, in accordance with the "Dust Explosion Prevention Safety Regulations" and other relevant national or industry standards, and taking into account actual process conditions, install and utilize devices such as air lock ash unloading, spark detection and extinguishing, and wind pressure differential monitoring, as well as monitoring and early warning information systems for related safety equipment. This should strengthen real-time monitoring of dust explosion-hazardous areas where ignition sources and dust clouds may exist. Wet dust collection systems for metal dusts such as aluminum and magnesium should be equipped with liquid level and flow rate monitoring and alarm devices interlocked with grinding and polishing equipment. The workplace and dust collector should be well ventilated to prevent hydrogen accumulation, and settled dust slurry should be cleaned promptly and in a standardized manner.

Article 16For processes such as crushing, grinding, granulation, and sanding that are prone to generating mechanical ignition sources, dust explosion-prone enterprises should adopt standardized measures to prevent ignition sources such as removing debris or detecting and eliminating sparks, and carry out regular cleaning and maintenance and keep relevant records.

Article 17The design, manufacture, installation, use, inspection, maintenance, modification and scrapping of dust explosion-related safety equipment such as explosion venting, explosion isolation, explosion suppression, inerting, air lock and ash unloading, impurity removal, monitoring, alarm, spark detection and elimination shall comply with the relevant national standards or industry standards such as the "Dust Explosion Safety Regulations". The relevant design, manufacturing and installation units shall provide information such as the safety performance and instructions for use of the relevant equipment and be responsible for the safety performance of the safety equipment.

Enterprises involved in dust explosions must regularly maintain and service dust explosion-proof safety equipment, and conduct regular testing or inspections in accordance with the "Dust Explosion Safety Regulations" and other relevant national or industry standards to ensure proper operation and maintain relevant records. They must not shut down or damage monitoring, alarm, and control equipment and facilities directly related to dust explosion safety, or tamper with, conceal, or destroy related data or information. Enterprises involved in dust explosions must standardize the selection of explosion-proof electrical equipment appropriate for explosion-hazardous areas.

Article 18Enterprises exposed to dust explosions should develop and strictly implement a dust cleaning system for dust explosion-hazardous areas in accordance with relevant national or industry standards, including the "Dust Explosion Prevention Safety Regulations." This system clearly defines the cleaning scope, cleaning cycle, cleaning methods, and responsible personnel, and should post the system in a conspicuous location within the relevant dust explosion-hazardous areas. Responsible personnel should regularly clean dust and maintain accurate records to ensure that dusty work areas and equipment and facilities where dust may accumulate are thoroughly and promptly cleaned in accordance with regulations. Dust-prone work areas should be cleaned every shift.

The collection, storage, and other disposal processes of aluminum, magnesium, and other metal dust and magnesium alloy scrap should avoid large accumulations of dust and scrap, or multi-layer stacking after bagging. If temporary storage is required, a relatively independent temporary storage area should be set up away from crowded places such as work sites, and necessary fire and explosion prevention measures such as waterproofing, moisture-proofing, ventilation, and hydrogen monitoring should be implemented. Mechanical briquetting should be preferred for hydrated magnesium alloy scrap, and magnesium alloy dust should be temporarily stored by immersion in large quantities of water.

Article 19Dust-explosion-prone enterprises must implement special operation approval procedures for the inspection and maintenance of equipment and facilities or dust removal systems in dust explosion-hazardous areas. A special operation plan must be developed before any operation is performed. Before performing hot work on dust collectors, pipelines, and other equipment with dust deposits, internal dust and combustible dust in the work area must be cleaned. During operations, production equipment must be stopped, and inspection and maintenance tools must be explosion-proof and spark-proof. After the operation, the site must be properly cleaned, and production may only resume after the maximum temperature at the work point returns to normal.

Article 20Dust explosion-related enterprises should do a good job in the maintenance and upkeep of facilities and equipment in dust explosion hazardous areas, strengthen safety management of maintenance contractors, clearly stipulate the rights and obligations of both parties in production safety in the contract, review the safety measures and emergency response measures related to dust explosion prevention in the maintenance plans of maintenance contractors, and supervise the contractors' implementation.

Article 21Safety production technical service agencies provide safety production technical services such as dust explosion prevention-related safety evaluation, testing, inspection, risk assessment, hidden danger investigation, etc. to dust explosion-related enterprises. They should carry out their work in accordance with laws, regulations, rules and relevant national standards or industry standards such as the "Dust Explosion Safety Regulations", ensure that the reports and results they issue are true, accurate and complete, and must not engage in fraud.

Chapter III Supervision and Inspection

Article 22The department responsible for the safety supervision of dust-related explosion-prone enterprises should strengthen the supervision and inspection of the dust explosion prevention and safety work of enterprises in accordance with the principle of hierarchical territoriality, formulate and implement annual supervision and inspection plans, and focus on inspecting enterprises with a large number of dust workers and higher explosion risks.

Article 23When the department responsible for the safety supervision of dust explosion-related enterprises conducts supervision and inspection of enterprises, it shall focus on the following items:

(1) The establishment and implementation of the dust explosion prevention and production safety responsibility system and related safety management systems;

(2) A list of dust explosion risks and an information file on identification and control;

(3) Records of investigation and control of potential dust explosion hazards;

(4) Dust cleaning and disposal records;

(5) Records of special production safety education and training on dust explosion prevention;

(6) Safety management of inspection, maintenance, hot work and other operations in dust explosion hazardous areas;

(7) Regular maintenance, testing or inspection of safety equipment;

(8) The safety facilities involving dust explosion hazards are designed, constructed, put into production and used at the same time as the main project;

(9) The formulation and rehearsal of emergency plans.

Article 24The department responsible for the safety supervision of dust-related explosion-prone enterprises shall supervise and inspect the implementation of dust explosion prevention safety measures in key areas and key links such as the dust removal system, fire prevention and explosion prevention, and dust cleaning and disposal of enterprises in accordance with relevant standards and regulations such as the standards for determining major accident hazards in the industrial and commercial sectors and key issues for law enforcement inspections, and urge enterprises to fulfill their main responsibility for dust explosion prevention and production safety.

Article 25Departments responsible for safety supervision of dust explosion-prone enterprises may, as needed, entrust production safety technical service organizations to provide technical services such as safety assessment, testing, inspection, and hazard investigation, and bear the associated costs. Production safety technical service organizations are responsible for the relevant reports and results they issue.

The relevant reports or results issued by the production safety technical service agency can be used as one of the bases for administrative enforcement.

Dust explosion-related enterprises shall not refuse or obstruct the technical service work of the production safety technical service agencies entrusted by the departments responsible for the safety supervision of dust explosion-related enterprises.

Article 26The department responsible for the safety supervision of dust-explosion-prone enterprises should strengthen the professional knowledge training of dust explosion prevention for supervisory and inspection personnel, so that they can understand the relevant laws, regulations and standard requirements, master the key issues of law enforcement inspections and the standards for determining major accident hazards, and improve their administrative law enforcement capabilities.

Chapter IV Legal Liability

Article 27If a dust explosion-prone enterprise commits any of the following acts, the department responsible for the safety supervision of dust explosion-prone enterprises shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Safety Production Law of the People's Republic of China", order it to correct the problem within a time limit and impose a fine of no more than 50,000 yuan; if it fails to correct the problem within the time limit, it shall be fined no less than 50,000 yuan but no more than 200,000 yuan, and the directly responsible supervisor and other directly responsible persons shall be fined no less than 10,000 yuan but no more than 20,000 yuan; if the circumstances are serious, it shall be ordered to suspend production and business for rectification; if it constitutes a crime, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law:

(1) Failing to place obvious safety warning signs in places, facilities and equipment where combustible dust is generated, transported, collected or stored and where there are significant risk factors;

(2) The installation, use, inspection, modification and scrapping of dust explosion-proof safety equipment do not comply with national or industry standards;

(3) Failure to regularly maintain, service, and periodically test or inspect dust explosion prevention safety equipment;

(4) Failure to provide labor protection equipment that complies with national or industry standards for employees in dust-related work positions;

(5) Shutting down or destroying the monitoring, alarm, prevention and control equipment and facilities directly related to dust explosion safety, or tampering with, concealing or destroying the relevant data and information.

Article 28If a dust explosion-prone enterprise commits any of the following acts, the department responsible for the safety supervision of dust explosion-prone enterprises shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Work Safety Law of the People's Republic of China", order it to make corrections within a time limit and impose a fine of no more than RMB 100,000; if it fails to make corrections within the time limit, it shall be ordered to suspend production and business for rectification and be fined no less than RMB 100,000 and no more than RMB 200,000, and the directly responsible supervisor and other directly responsible persons shall be fined no less than RMB 20,000 and no more than RMB 50,000:

(1) Failing to provide special production safety education and training on dust explosion prevention to relevant persons in charge and persons engaged in dust-related work positions in accordance with relevant regulations, or failing to truthfully record the special production safety education and training;

(2) Failure to truthfully record the status of dust explosion prevention hazard investigation and control or failure to inform employees;

(3) Failure to formulate emergency rescue plans for dust explosion accidents or to organize drills on a regular basis.

Article 29If a dust explosion-related enterprise violates the provisions of Article 14, 15, 16, 18 and 19 of these Regulations and constitutes an accident hazard but fails to take measures to eliminate it, the department responsible for the safety supervision of dust explosion-related enterprises shall, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Safety Production Law of the People's Republic of China", order it to eliminate the hazard immediately or within a time limit and impose a fine of no more than RMB 50,000; if the enterprise refuses to comply, it shall be ordered to suspend production and business for rectification, and the directly responsible supervisor and other directly responsible persons shall be fined no less than RMB 50,000 and no more than RMB 100,000; if a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law.

Article 30If a dust explosion-prone enterprise has any of the following circumstances, the department responsible for the safety supervision of dust explosion-prone enterprises shall order it to make corrections within a time limit and impose a fine of no more than RMB 30,000. The directly responsible supervisor and other directly responsible persons shall be fined no more than RMB 10,000:

(1) The enterprise fails to carry out dust explosion prevention safety design for the safety facilities of its newly constructed, renovated or expanded engineering projects, or fails to carry out construction in accordance with the design;

(2) Failure to establish a dust explosion prevention safety management system in accordance with regulations or the content does not conform to the actual situation of the enterprise;

(3) Failure to identify, assess, and control dust explosion safety risks in accordance with regulations, failure to establish a safety risk list, or failure to promptly maintain relevant information files;

(4) The dust explosion prevention safety equipment is not operating normally.

Article 31If a production safety technical service agency accepts a commission to carry out technical service work and issues a false report, it shall be ordered to suspend business and rectify the situation in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Production Safety Law of the People's Republic of China" and be fined not less than RMB 30,000 and not more than RMB 100,000; if it causes damage to others, it shall bear compensation liability in accordance with the law.

If a production safety technical service agency accepts a commission to carry out technical service work and issues a false report, the illegal gains shall be confiscated in accordance with the relevant provisions of the "Production Safety Law of the People's Republic of China"; if the illegal gains are more than 100,000 yuan, a fine of not less than 2 times but not more than 5 times the illegal gains shall be imposed; if there are no illegal gains or the illegal gains are less than 100,000 yuan, a fine of not less than 100,000 yuan but not more than 200,000 yuan shall be imposed alone or in combination; the directly responsible supervisor and other directly responsible persons shall be fined not less than 50,000 yuan but not more than 100,000 yuan; if damages are caused to others, they shall bear joint and several liability for compensation with the dust explosion-related enterprises; if a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be pursued in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law.

For production safety technical service agencies and their directly responsible personnel who commit illegal acts as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, their corresponding qualifications and certifications will be revoked, and they will not be allowed to engage in safety evaluation, certification, testing, inspection and other work within 5 years. If the circumstances are serious, they will be banned from the industry and occupation for life.

Chapter V Supplementary Provisions

Article 32These regulations shall come into force on September 1, 2021.