China’s Sichuan Province to shut down several high risk chemical parks

Several days ago, the General Office of the China’s Sichuan Provincial Government issued a document, entitled, “Hazardous Chemicals and Work Safety Regulatory Action Plan,” which defines the measures to be taken to strengthen the province’s work safety and hazardous chemical regulations.

In April 2019, an inspection team from the Work Safety Committee of the State Council pointed out that work risks related to the chemical parks and hazardous chemicals-related project in Sichuan Province are prominently present, and there are cases when a chemical industrial park was established only for a specific manufacturer. Some chemical industry parks in Sichuan Province have had problems, such as chemical parks that are not clearly positioned, industry chains within parks that are not complete, and the chemical industry not being geared towards high-end production, as well as frequent changes to industrial policy making, ineffective planning and implementation, and lack of control over operations within chemical parks. Even worse is the fact that some chemical parks have not carried out an overall safety risk assessment.

Therefore, the action plan clearly requests for the operation of chemical parks to be well regulated, to solve the key issues related to work safety. In general, a more stringent correctional plan needs to be adopted to shut down several high risk chemical parks or centralized chemical production areas.

By the end of 2020, chemical parks that have not carried out an overall safety risk assessment must complete the assessment according to relevant regulations, so safety risk levels must be assessed and identified. 

Chemical industrial parks that stay at risk level A (high risk) by the end of 2021 will be shut down, and chemical parks that have not reached risk level C (ordinary risk) or risk level D (low risk) by the end of 2022 will also be shut down. In the interim, chemical industrial parks at risk level A will not be allowed to establish new, renovative and expansive hazardous chemical projects, and will be earmarked as “chemical parks subject to strict supervision and regulation.” Chemical parks at risk level B (relatively high risk) will not be allowed to establish new, renovative and expansive hazardous chemical projects, and corrections are required within a given deadline.