Law of the People's Republic of China on Work Safety (2021)

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Law of the People's Republic of China on Work Safety (2014)

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(Adopted at the 28th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Ninth National People's Congress on June 29, 2002; amended for the first time in line with the Decision on Amending Certain Laws adopted at the 10th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Eleventh National People's Congress on August 27, 2009; amended for the second time in accordance with the Decision on Amending the Law of the People's Republic of China on Work Safety adopted at the 10th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Twelfth National People's Congress on August 31, 2014; amended for the third time according to the Decision on Amending the Law of the People's Republic of China on Work Safety adopted at the 29th Meeting of the Standing Committee of the Thirteenth National People's Congress on June 10, 2021.)

4007204Law of the People's Republic of China on Work Safety2021

Chapter I General Provisions

Article 1

This Law is enacted for enhancing work safety, preventing and minimizing accidents related to work safety, ensuring the safety of people's lives and property, and promoting economic and social development in a sound and sustainable manner.

Article 2

This Law is applicable to work safety in entities engaged in production and operation activities (hereinafter referred to as production and operation entities) within the territory of the People's Republic of China. Where there are provisions in other laws and administrative regulations on fire safety, road traffic safety, railway traffic safety, water traffic safety, civil aviation safety, nuclear and radiation safety, or special equipment safety, those provisions shall prevail.

Article 3

The leadership of the Communist Party of China must be upheld in ensuring work safety.

Efforts at work safety shall be oriented around people and reflect the principle of people first and life first, with top priority given to people's life safety. The philosophy of safe development shall be adhered to and the principles of safety first, prevention as the main target as well as comprehensive administration shall be followed to forestall and resolve major safety risks at the source.

The governmental departments in charge of certain industries must manage work safety in the industries for which they are responsible. Managers in enterprises responsible for certain businesses and production must manage work safety in their areas of responsibilities. The production and operation entities shall assume the primary responsibility in this regard, and the government shall fulfill the responsibility for regulation. A mechanism for work safety shall be established, in which the production and operation entities bare safety responsibility with participation by employees, regulation by the government, the self-discipline of industries, and supervision by the society.

Article 4

Production and operation entities shall abide by this Law and other laws and regulations concerning work safety, strengthen work safety management, establish and improve the responsibility system covering all the staff as well as work safety related rules and regulations, increase inputs, including funds, supplies, technologies and personnel into work safety management, improve conditions for safe work, strengthen standardization and informatization of work safety, establish a dual-prevention mechanism integrating tiered management and control of safety risks and identification and rectification of hazards, and refine risk forestalling and resolving measures, in a bid to improve capacity in this regard and ensure work safety.

Production and operation entities engaged in platform economy or other emerging industries and sectors shall, according to the characteristics of their industries and sectors, develop, improve and implement the responsibility system covering all the staff, strengthen education and training on work safety, and fulfill the work safety obligations provided by this Law and other laws and regulations.

Article 5

The principal person in charge of a production and operation entity is the primary person responsible for work safety of the entity and is in full charge of work safety of the entity. Any other person-in-charge shall take work safety related responsibilities within the scope of their duties.

Article 6

Employees of production and operation entities shall be entitled to secure guarantee of work safety in accordance with the law and shall fulfill corresponding obligations in work safety in accordance with the law.

Article 7

Trade unions shall supervise work safety in accordance with the law.

Trade unions of production and operation entities shall, in accordance with the law, organize employees to participate in the democratic management of and supervision over work safety of the entities and safeguard the legitimate rights and interests of the employees in work safety. Production and operation entities shall heed the opinions of the trade unions when formulating or revising relevant rules or regulations concerning work safety.

Article 8

The State Council and the local people's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with the national economic and social development plans, formulate and organize the implementation of the work safety plans. The work safety plans shall be aligned with spatial plans and other relevant plans.

The people's governments at all levels shall strengthen the construction of work safety infrastructure, build their regulatory capacity for work safety, and include the required funds in the budget at their corresponding level.

The people's governments at or above the county level shall organize relevant departments to develop and improve the work safety risk assessment and validation mechanism, conduct industrial planning and spatial layout designing according to the requirements for management and control of safety risks and implement a mechanism for joint prevention and control of major safety risks on production and operation entities that are close to each other in locations, industries and forms of businesses.

Article 9

The State Council and the local people's governments at or above the county level shall strengthen their leadership over work safety, establish and improve the coordination mechanism in work safety, support and supervise all the departments concerned in performing their duties in work safety regulation, and solve major problems exposed in the work safety supervision and administration through coordination in a timely manner.

The people's governments of townships and towns, neighborhood offices, development zones, industrial parks, ports, scenery resorts, etc. shall designate organs for work safety supervision and administration and confirm their duties, strengthen forces regarding work safety regulation, oversee and inspect the work safety situations of the production and operation entities in their respective administrative regions or their jurisdictions in line with their duties, and assist relevant departments of the people's governments in performing the duties for supervision over and administration of work safety in accordance with the law or perform the duties for supervision over and management of work safety under authorization in accordance with the law.

Article 10

The emergency management department under the State Council exercises all-around supervision over nationwide work safety situation according to this Law. The emergency management departments of people's governments at or above the county level, in accordance with this Law, exercise all-around supervision over work safety within their administrative regions.

The relevant departments of the State Council, including departments of transportation, housing and urban-rural development, water resources, and civil aviation shall, in accordance with the provisions of this Law and other relevant laws and administrative regulations, supervise and administrate work safety of industries or sectors within the scope of their respective responsibilities. Relevant departments of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall, in accordance with the provisions of this Law and other relevant laws and regulations, supervise and administrate work safety in relevant industries or sectors within the scope of their respective responsibilities. Where there exist undefined duties for work safety supervision and administration of emerging industries or sectors, the local people's governments at or above the county level shall determine the specific departments responsible for work safety supervision and administration based on the principle of similarity in business.

The emergency management departments and the departments exercising supervision and administration of work safety in relevant industries or sectors are collectively referred to as the departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration. Such departments shall strengthen work safety supervision and administration in accordance with the law through collaboration, coordination, and sharing of information and resources.

Article 11

Relevant departments under the State Council shall, in compliance with the requirements for ensuring work safety and in accordance with the law, develop national standards or industry standards in a timely manner and make revisions in due course on the basis of technological advancement and economic development.

Production and operation entities shall implement the national standards or industry standards for work safety formulated in accordance with the law.

Article 12

Relevant departments under the State Council shall, according to their respective duties, be responsible for proposing, organizing the drafting of, soliciting opinions for, and technically examining the projects of compulsory national standards for work safety. The emergency management department of the State Council shall put forward the overall plan for setting up projects of compulsory national standards for work safety. The administrative department in charge of standardization under the State Council shall be responsible for the project approval, numbering, and notification to the public, as well as authorization for the promulgation of the compulsory national standards for work safety. The administrative department in charge of standardization and other relevant departments under the State Council shall, in accordance with their statutory functions and duties, supervise and inspect the implementation of the compulsory national standards for work safety.

Article 13

People's governments at all levels and the relevant departments thereunder shall strengthen the publicity of laws and regulations as well as knowledge regarding work safety in various forms in order to raise the awareness of work safety in society.

Article 14

Relevant associations shall, in accordance with laws, administrative regulations, and articles of association, provide production and operation entities with information, training, and other services concerning work safety, and, by enhancing self-discipline, propel such entities to strengthening work safety management.

Article 15

The organizations legally established to provide technical and managerial services for work safety shall, in accordance with laws, administrative regulations, and practice standards, agree to be entrusted by production and operation entities to provide such services.

Production and operation entities that have entrusted organizations stated in the preceding paragraph with technical and managerial services shall remain responsible for guaranteeing their work safety.

Article 16

The state implements the system of accountability for accidents related to work safety. Entities and individuals responsible for such accidents shall be investigated for their legal accountability in accordance with the provisions in this Law and relevant laws or regulations.

Article 17

The people's governments at or above the county level shall organize departments responsible for the supervision and administration of work safety to compile a checklist of well-defined power and responsibility in work safety, disclose the checklist to the society and accept public supervision.

Article 18

The state encourages and supports scientific and technological research on work safety and the application of advanced technologies in this area in order to raise the work safety capacity.

Article 19

The state awards entities and individuals that have achieved outstanding successes in improving work safety conditions and preventing accidents related to work safety, and in rescue operations.

Chapter II Work Safety Guarantees from Production and Operation Entities

Article 20

Production and operation entities shall have the work safety conditions as specified by this Law and relevant laws, administrative regulations, and national standards or industry standards. Production and operation entities that do not have such conditions are not allowed to engage in production and operation.

Article 21

The principal person in charge of a production and operation entity has the following responsibilities for work safety within the entity:

(1) setting up, improving, and implementing the responsibility system covering all the staff in the entities and strengthening work safety standardization;

(2) making arrangements for formulating and implementing rules, regulations, and operating procedures for work safety in the entity;

(3) making arrangements for formulating and implementing plans for education and training on work safety in the entity;

(4) ensuring the effective implementation of work safety inputs in the entity;

(5) making arrangements for establishing and implementing the dual-prevention mechanism integrating tiered management and control for safety risks and identification and rectification for hazards, supervising and inspecting work safety in the entity, and eliminating hazards threatening work safety in a timely manner;

(6) making arrangements for formulating and implementing the entity's emergency plans for accidents related to work safety; and

(7) submitting timely and truthful reports on accidents related to work safety to higher authorities.

Article 22

A responsibility system for work safety covering all the staff of a production and operation entity shall specify the responsible persons, the scope of responsibilities, assessment standards, and other elements.

A production and operation entity shall set up appropriate mechanisms and strengthen the supervision over and assessment of the implementation of the responsibility system covering all the staff, to ensure its proper implementation.

Article 23

Funds that are essential to meeting work safety conditions for production and operation entities shall be ensured by the decision-making bodies, principal persons in charge of the entities, or investors of individual operation entities, and these bodies and persons shall bear the responsibility for the consequences of insufficient funds essential to work safety.

Relevant production and operation entities shall withdraw and use funds for work safety in accordance with relevant provisions, and such funds shall be dedicated to improving work safety conditions. The expenses for work safety shall truthfully be incorporated into the record of cost. The specific measures for withdrawal, use, supervision and management of work safety funds shall be formulated by the financial department under the State Council in conjunction with the emergency management department under the State Council after soliciting opinions from relevant departments under the State Council.

Article 24

Mines, entities for metal smelting, construction and transportation as well as the entities for manufacturing, operating or storing, and loading or unloading dangerous articles shall set up dedicated organizations or appoint full-time persons for the management of work safety.

A production and operation entity that does not fall into the specified categories in the preceding paragraph shall set up a dedicated organization or appoint full-time persons for work safety management if the number of employees exceeds 100, and shall appoint full-time or part-time persons for work safety management if the number of employees does not exceed 100.

Article 25

The dedicated organization and persons for work safety management in a production and operation entity shall perform the following duties:

(1) organizing or participating in drafting the entity's rules, regulations, and operating procedures for work safety, as well as the entity's emergency rescue plan for accidents related to work safety;

(2) organizing or participating in the work safety education and training in the entity, and making truthful records of the education and training on work safety;

(3) organizing hazard identification and assessment, and supervising the implementation of measures over safety management of major hazards in the entity;

(4) organizing or participating in the emergency rescue drill in the entity;

(5) checking the work safety situation of the entity, screening hazards that may cause accidents related to work safety in a timely manner, and coming up with proposals on improving work safety management;

(6) stopping and correcting the directions contrary to the rules or regulations, arbitrary orders for risky operations or behaviors contrary to operating procedures; and

(7) supervising the implementation of the entity's rectification measures for work safety.

A production and operation entity can designate a full-time person in charge of work safety, who assists the principal person in charge of the entity to perform work safety management duty.

Article 26

The dedicated organization and persons for work safety management in a production and operation entity shall fulfill due obligations and perform their responsibilities in accordance with the law.

A production and operation entity shall solicit the opinions from the organization and persons for work safety management in making business decisions involving work safety.

A production and operation entity shall not reduce the salary, welfare or any other benefits of, or terminate the labor contract with, a person for work safety management due to the person's performance of responsibilities in accordance with the law.

The appointment or removal of a person for work safety management in an entity for manufacturing or storing dangerous articles, or a mine or metal smelting entity shall be notified to the competent department in charge of work safety supervision and control.

Article 27

The principal persons-in-charge and work safety management personnel of production and operation entities shall have work safety knowledge and management competence that are commensurate with the production and operation activities of these entities.

The principal persons-in-charge and work safety management personnel of entities that manufacture, operate, store, load or unload dangerous articles, mines, and entities for metal smelting, construction and transportation shall pass the examinations for their work safety knowledge and their management competence conducted by the competent departments in charge of work safety supervision and control. No fees shall be charged for taking such examinations.

The entities that manufacture, store, load or unload dangerous articles, mines, and entities for metal smelting shall employ certified safety engineers for work safety management. Other production and operation entities are encouraged to hire certified safety engineers to engage in work safety management. Certified safety engineers shall be managed under classification by professions, and specific measures shall be formulated by the department for human resources and social security under the State Council and the emergency management department under the State Council in conjunction with relevant departments under the State Council.

Article 28

Production and operation entities shall provide their employees with work safety education and training to ensure that employees acquire necessary work safety knowledge, are familiar with the relevant rules and regulations for work safety and operating procedures, master the skills for safe operation in their posts, understand the emergency handling measures for accidents and are aware of their rights and obligations in respect of work safety. No employees who fail to be qualified after receiving education and training in work safety training can be assigned to posts for work.

A production or business entity with dispatched workers shall put the dispatched workers under the unified management of the employees of the entity and provide the dispatched workers with education and training in safety-oriented operating procedures and operating skills for their posts. An entity dispatching workers shall provide the dispatched workers with the necessary education and work safety training.

Production and operation entities that accept students from secondary vocational schools or institutions of higher education for internship shall provide such students with appropriate education and work safety training and necessary labor protection products. Such schools and institutions shall assist production and operation entities in providing the students with education and work safety training.

Production and operation entities shall set up files for education and work safety training and truthfully record the time, content, participants, and assessment results, etc. of the work safety education and training.

Article 29

For the use of new techniques, technologies, materials or equipment, production and operation entities shall learn and master their safety related technical features and adopt effective protective measures for safety, and the entities shall provide their employees with specific education and work safety training.

Article 30

The special operation personnel in production and operation entities shall, in accordance with relevant state regulations, receive special training in safe operation, and they shall only be assigned to such posts after obtaining the appropriate qualification.

The scope of special operation personnel shall be determined by the emergency management department under the State Council in conjunction with the relevant departments under the State Council.

Article 31

Safety facilities for construction projects, including new construction, renovation, and expansion projects, of production and operation entities (hereinafter referred to as construction projects) shall be designed, erected, and put into operation and use simultaneously with the principal parts of the projects. Investments into safety facilities shall be included in the budgetary estimates of the construction projects.

Article 32

Construction projects for mines and metal smelting, as well as construction projects for the manufacture, storage, loading or unloading of dangerous articles, shall undergo safety assessment according to the relevant state regulations.

Article 33

The designers and designing entities for safety facilities of construction projects shall be responsible for the design of safety facilities.

The designs of the safety facilities of construction projects for mines and metal smelting and construction projects for the manufacture, storage, loading and unloading of dangerous articles shall, in accordance with relevant state regulations, be submitted to relevant departments for examination. The examination departments and the persons in charge of the examination shall be responsible for the results of the examination.

Article 34

Construction entities for projects of mines or metal smelting and the projects for the manufacture, storage, loading and unloading of dangerous articles shall erect the safety facilities according to the approved design of the facilities and shall be responsible for the engineering quality of the facilities.

Before the completed construction projects for mining and metal smelting, and the manufacture, storage, loading and unloading of dangerous articles are put into operation or use, the construction entities shall be responsible for organizing the acceptance check of the safety facilities; the said projects shall only be put into operation or use after the safety facilities are checked and accepted. The departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration shall strengthen the supervision and verification of the activities and results of checking and acceptance conducted by entities of construction.

Article 35

Production and operation entities shall affix conspicuous safety precaution signs at production and operation places, facilities, and equipment where factors of relatively grave danger exist.

Article 36

Safety equipment shall be designed, manufactured, installed, used, tested, maintained, renovated and scrapped in compliance with the national standards or industry standards.

Production and operation entities shall have their safety equipment constantly maintained, serviced and regularly tested in order to ensure its normal operation. Records for maintenance, services and tests shall be kept and signed by the persons concerned.

Production and operation entities must not shut down or destroy the surveillance, warning, protection and life-saving equipment and facilities that directly affect safety, or distort, conceal or destroy data and information from the equipment and facilities.

Production and operation entities that use flammable gas in catering and other industries must install flammable gas alarming facilities and ensure their normal functioning.

Article 37

Containers and conveyances for dangerous articles as well as special equipment for offshore oil exploitation and underground mining that may influence the safety of people's lives and is of great danger, as used by production and operation entities, shall be made by professional manufacturers in accordance with relevant state regulations, and they shall only be put into use after passing the test and check by professionally qualified testing and checking institutions, and after safe use certificates or safety tags are issued. The said institutions for test and check shall be responsible for the test and check results.

Article 38

The state applies an elimination system for the techniques and equipment that present a serious threat to work safety. A specific catalog shall be formulated and promulgated by the emergency management department under the State Council in conjunction with relevant departments under the State Council. Where the formulation of the catalog is otherwise provided for in laws or administrative regulations, such laws, or administrative regulations shall prevail.

The people's governments of provinces, autonomous regions, or municipalities directly under the Central Government may, in light of the actual situation of their respective regions, formulate and promulgate specific catalogs to eliminate the techniques or equipment that present threat to work safety other than those prescribed in the preceding paragraph.

No production and operation entity may use techniques and equipment threatening work safety which ought to be eliminated.

Article 39

Where dangerous articles are to be manufactured, marketed, transported, stored, used or where abandoned dangerous articles are to be disposed of, the matter shall be submitted to the competent department for approval in accordance with the provisions in relevant laws and regulations as well as the national standards or industry standards and shall be subject to its supervision and control.

To manufacture, operate, transport, store or use dangerous articles, or to dispose of abandoned dangerous articles, production and operation entities shall abide by relevant laws and regulations, as well as the national standards or industry standards, establish a specific safety management system, adopt reliable safety measures, and subject themselves to the supervision and control by competent departments in accordance with the law.

Article 40

Production and operation entities shall have the sources of major hazards recorded and filed, conduct regular tests, assessments, and monitoring, make emergency plans, and notify the employees and related persons of the measures to be taken in case of emergency.

Production and operation entities shall, in accordance with relevant state regulations, report to the emergency management departments of the local people's governments and other departments concerned on the sources of major hazards, relevant safety and emergency response measures for the record. The emergency management departments and other relevant departments of local people's governments shall share such information though the relevant information system.

Article 41

Production and operation entities shall develop a tiered safety risk management system, and take respective management and control measures according to the levels of safety risks.

Production and operation entities shall establish, improve and implement the hazard screening and rectification system for accidents related to work safety and take technical and managerial measures for discovering and eliminating accident hazards in a timely manner. The information on the identification and rectification of accident hazards shall be truthfully recorded and notified to employees via the general assembly of employees, the general assembly of employee representatives or information bulletins. The information on the identification and rectification of major accident hazards shall be reported to departments in charge of work safety supervision and control, the general assembly of employees, or the general assembly of employee representatives in a timely manner.

The departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration of the local people's governments at or above the county level shall include major accident hazards in the relevant information system, establish and improve the system for supervising the rectification of major accident hazards and urge production and operation entities to eliminate major accident hazards.

Article 42

No workshops, stores, or warehouses where dangerous articles are manufactured, operated, stored, or used may share the same building with the employees' living quarters; a safety distance shall be kept between the two.

In manufacturing and operating places and the living quarters of employees, there shall be exits or evacuation routes that meet the requirements for emergency evacuation and are indicated clearly and kept unobstructed. The said exits or evacuation routes may not be occupied, locked, or blocked.

Article 43

When carrying out blasting or hoisting, using open fire, temporarily using electricity, or doing other dangerous operations specified by the emergency management department under the State Council in conjunction with relevant departments under the State Council, production and operation entities shall designate specific persons to sites for safety management and ensure that correct operating procedures are followed and safety measures are implemented.

Article 44

Production and operation entities shall educate and urge their employees to strictly abide by rules and regulations for work safety and operating procedures formulated by the entities, and truthfully inform the employees of hazardous factors existing at the workplaces and their work posts as well as the precautions and the emergency response measures to be taken in the event of accidents.

Production and operation entities shall pay attention to the physical and psychological status and behavioral patterns of employees, strengthen psychological counseling and spiritual comfort, make employees strictly fulfill work safety responsibilities in their posts, and prevent accidents from arising out of abnormal behaviors of employees.

Article 45

Production and operation entities shall provide their employees with labor protection products that are up to national standards or industry standards, and they shall supervise and instruct employees to wear and use the protection in accordance with usage rules.

Article 46

Work safety management personnel of production and operation entities shall, in light of the production and operation characteristics of the entities, carry out routine inspections of work safety. They shall immediately handle the problems discovered in the course of the inspection. Where they cannot do so, they shall immediately report the matter to the relevant responsible persons of the entities who shall handle the problems in a timely manner. The inspection and the handling of the problems shall be truthfully recorded.

Work safety management personnel of production and operation entities shall, when discovering major accident hazards during the inspection, make a report to the relevant responsible persons of the entities in accordance with the preceding paragraph. Where the responsible persons fail to handle the hazards in a timely manner, they may report to the competent departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration and the departments receiving the reports shall handle the hazards in a timely manner in accordance with the law.

Article 47

Production and operation entities shall arrange funds for the provision of labor protection products and work safety training.

Article 48

Where two or more production and operation entities conduct production and operation activities in the same workplace, which may endanger the work safety of the other party, they shall sign an agreement on work safety management, in which the responsibilities of each party for work safety management and the safety measures to be taken by each party shall be made explicit. In addition, each party shall assign full-time work safety management personnel to conduct safety inspections and coordination.

Article 49

No production or operation entities may contract out or lease production, or operation projects, workplaces or equipment to any entities or individuals that do not possess the work safety conditions or the corresponding qualifications.

A production and operation entity that contracts out or leases production or business projects or workplaces to any other entity shall conclude a special agreement on work safety management with the contractor or lessee or specify their respective responsibilities for work safety management in the work contract or lease contract. The production and operation entity shall carry out unified coordination and management of the work safety of the contractor or lessee, conduct regular safety inspections and supervise the immediate rectification of any safety problem discovered in a timely manner.

Construction entities that undertake construction projects of mines or metal smelting, and those that undertake construction projects of production, storage, loading and unloading of dangerous articles shall strengthen the safety management of construction projects, and they shall not illegally transfer construction qualifications through selling, leasing, lending, affiliating, and other forms. They shall not re-contract all the contracted construction projects to a third party or disassemble the contracted construction projects into different parts which are re-contracted to third parties respectively in the name of subcontracting, nor shall they subcontract the projects to entities that do not have the corresponding qualifications.

Article 50

When an accident related to work safety occurs in a production and operation entity, the principal persons in charge of the entity shall immediately make arrangements for a rescue operation; and, during the period of investigation and handling of the accident, the person may not leave his post without permission.

Article 51

Production and operation entities shall, in accordance with the law, contribute to work-related injury insurance and pay insurance premiums for their employees.

The state encourages production and operation entities to take part in work safety liability insurance. Production and operation entities in highly hazardous industries or sectors specified by the state shall take part in work safety liability insurance. The specific scope and implementation methods shall be determined by the emergency management department under the State Council in conjunction with the financial department, insurance supervision department, and other departments in charge of relevant industries under the State Council.

Chapter III Rights and Obligations of Employees relating to Work Safety

Article 52

The labor contract concluded between the production and operation entities and their employees shall specify the items related to the protection of the employees' safety and the prevention of occupational hazards, as well as the items of, according to the law, paying for work-related injury insurance for their employees.

No production or business entity may, in any form, conclude agreements with their employees in an attempt to evade or lessen the responsibilities that they should bear for the injuries and deaths of employees due to accidents related to work safety in accordance with the law.

Article 53

Employees of production and operation entities shall have the right to getting knowledge of the risky factors, as well as the preventive measures and emergency response measures in their workplaces and posts to be taken in the event of accidents, and they shall have the right to put forward suggestions on work safety of the entities where they work.

Article 54

Employees shall have the right to criticize, report, and accuse the entities where they work for the problems existing in work safety management. They shall have the right to refuse to comply with the directions that are contrary to rules and regulations or arbitrary orders for risky operations.

No production and operation entity may reduce the wages, welfare standards and other remuneration of, or cancel the labor contracts concluded with its employees because the latter criticizes report, accuse the entity of the problems existing in its work safety management, or refuse to comply with the directions that are contrary to rules and regulations or arbitrary orders for risky operations.

Article 55

On spotting emergent situations that directly threaten personal safety, the employees shall have the right to suspend the operation or evacuate from the workplace after taking possible emergency response measures.

No production and operation entity may reduce the wages, welfare standards and other remuneration of, or cancel the labor contracts concluded with its employees because the latter, under the emergent situations mentioned in the preceding paragraph, suspend the operation or take emergency response measures for evacuation from the workplace.

Article 56

If accidents related to work safety occur, production and operation entities must take timely measures to rescue and treat the affected personnel.

Employees who are harmed in accidents related to work safety, if entitled to claim compensation according to relevant civil laws, in addition to enjoying the work-related injury insurance in accordance with the law, have the right to demand compensation.

Article 57

In the course of operation, employees shall strictly fulfill safety responsibilities in their posts, abide by work safety rules and regulations and operating procedures of the entities where they work, subject themselves to management, and wear and use the labor protection products correctly.

Article 58

Employees shall receive education and work safety training to master work safety knowledge needed for the jobs they do, improve their skills related to work safety, and develop their ability to prevent accidents and respond to emergencies.

Article 59

On spotting hazards that may lead to accidents or other factors that may jeopardize safety, employees shall immediately report the matter to the persons in charge of work safety on the spot or persons in charge of their entities. Persons who receive such reports shall handle the matter in a timely manner.

Article 60

Trade unions shall have the right to supervise and put forward comments and suggestions on the simultaneous design, construction and commissioning of the safety facilities and the main structure of a construction project.

Trade unions shall have the right to demand that production and operation entities set to right their violations of laws and regulations on work safety and their infringement of the lawful rights and interests of the employees. When discovering that production and operation entities issue directions contrary to rules and regulations, or arbitrary orders for risky operations, or when discovering hazards that may lead to accidents, trade unions have the right to put forward suggestions for solutions, and the production and operation entities shall consider the suggestions and respond in a timely manner. When discovering situations in which lives of the employees are threatened, trade unions shall have the right to put forward suggestions to the production and operation entities for organized evacuation of the employees from the endangered workplace, and the production and operation entities shall deal with such situations immediately.

The trade unions shall be entitled to participate in the investigations of accidents, give their comments on the handling of accidents, and request relevant personnel to undertake responsibilities.

Article 61

Where production and operation entities use any dispatched workers, the dispatched workers shall enjoy the rights of employees under this Law and shall perform the obligations of employees under this Law.

Chapter IV Work Safety Supervision and Administration

Article 62

Local people's governments at or above the county level shall, in light of the work safety conditions in their administrative regions, make arrangements for the departments concerned, in accordance with their respective responsibilities, to carry out strict inspections in the production and operation entities located in their administrative regions that are prone to major accidents related to work safety.

The emergency management departments shall, according to the requirements of supervision and control by classification and levels, formulate annual plans for supervision and inspection of work safety according to such annual plans, to carry out supervision and inspection. When discovering hazards that may lead to accidents, the departments shall deal with the matter in a timely manner.

Article 63

Where the departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration need to examine and approve (including approval, ratification, permission, registration, authentication, and issue of certificates or licenses, the same applies below) or check for acceptance in terms of matters related to work safety in accordance with relevant laws and regulations, they shall conduct the examination or check strictly in accordance with the conditions and procedures for work safety provided by relevant laws, regulations, national standards or industry standards. They may not give approval to or authorize acceptance of items that do not meet the work safety conditions specified in relevant laws, regulations, national standards or industry standards. With regard to entities that fail to obtain approvals or fail to pass the acceptance check in accordance with the law but engage in relevant activities, the departments in charge of administrative examination and approval, on discovering or receiving reports on such cases, shall immediately outlaw the activities and deal with the entities in accordance with the law. Where departments in charge of administrative examination and approval find that entities that have obtained approval in accordance with the law no longer possess the work safety conditions, they shall cancel the given approval.

Article 64

No departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration may charge any fees for examinations and checks for acceptance in terms of matters related to work safety, or require entities subject to their examination and check for acceptance to purchase products of designated brands or work safety equipment, devices or other products from designated manufacturers or sellers.

Article 65

When emergency management departments and other departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration carry out, during work safety related administrative law enforcement in accordance with the law, supervision and inspection of production and operation entities in terms of the implementation of the laws, regulations, national standards and industry standards related to work safety, said departments shall exercise the following functions and powers:

(1) entering production and operation entities for inspection, acquiring relevant materials and data for investigation, and getting information from the units and persons concerned;

(2) demanding immediate rectification, on the spot or within a time limit, of the illegal acts that threaten work safety discovered in the course of inspection; and with regard to practices deserving administrative penalties according to the law, making decisions to impose such penalties in accordance with the provisions of this Law, other relevant laws and administrative regulations;

(3) giving orders to eliminate the accident hazards discovered in the course of inspection immediately; when it is impossible to ensure safety before or in the course of the elimination of major accident hazards, giving orders to evacuate workers from the dangerous areas and to suspend production or business operation or stop using relevant facilities or equipment; and allowing resumption of production and business operation when the major accident hazards are eliminated as well as the use of facilities and equipment upon examination and approval; and

(4) sealing up or seizing facilities, equipment and devices that are believed, on firm grounds, not up to the national standards or industry standards for ensuring work safety, and dangerous articles illegally manufactured, stored, used, operated or transported; sealing up workplaces that illegally manufacture, store, use or operate dangerous articles, and making a decision to deal with the case in accordance with the law.

No supervision or inspection of entities may hinder the normal production and operation activities of the entities undergoing inspection.

Article 66

Production and operation entities shall cooperate with the supervisors and inspectors of the departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration (hereinafter referred to as work safety supervisors and inspectors) who are performing their duties in accordance with the law and may not refuse or create obstacles for their supervision and inspection.

Article 67

Work safety supervisors and inspectors shall be devoted to their duties, uphold principles and enforce laws impartially.

When performing their supervision and inspection tasks, work safety supervisors and inspectors shall present their effective credentials and documents for administrative law enforcement. They shall keep confidential the technical and business secrets of the entities under inspection.

Article 68

Work safety supervisors and inspectors shall keep a written record of the inspection, including the time, place, contents, the problems discovered and how the problems are dealt with, which shall be signed by the inspectors and the person directly in charge of the entity under inspection. Where the person directly in charge of an entity under inspection refuses to sign, the inspectors shall keep a record of the fact and report the matter to departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration.

Article 69

Departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration shall cooperate in supervision and inspection by conducting joint inspections. Where it is indeed necessary to conduct separate inspections, they shall exchange information. Where safety problems discovered require handling by another department concerned, the case shall be transferred to said department in a timely manner, and a record of the transfer shall be kept for reference. The department receiving the case shall handle it in a timely manner.

Article 70

The departments in charge of supervision and administration over work safety, in accordance with the law, shall make decisions to suspend the production, business operation, construction or the use of relevant facilities or equipment of production and business entities where there are major accident hazards. Such entities shall implement the decisions in accordance with the law and eliminate the accident hazards in a timely manner. If said entities refuse to implement the decisions while there exist risks of accidents related to work safety, the department in charge of work safety supervision and administration may, under the preconditions of ensuring safety and upon approval by the principal person directly in charge of the department, compel the relevant production and operation entities to fulfill requirements in the decisions by taking measures such as giving notice to relevant entities to cut the supply of electricity or the supply of civil explosives. The notices shall be in written form and the relevant entities shall cooperate.

Before cutting the supply of electricity in accordance with the preceding paragraph, departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration shall notify the production and operation entities twenty-four hours in advance unless there are emergencies threatening work safety. If the production and operation entities have followed the administrative decisions in accordance with the law and adopted appropriate measures to eliminate the accident hazards, departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration shall call off the measures prescribed in the preceding paragraph in a timely manner.

Article 71

The supervisory organ shall, in accordance with the provisions of the Supervision Law of the People's Republic of China, conduct supervision over the performance of duties for work safety supervision and administration by departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration and their personnel.

Article 72

Organizations responsible for assessment, authentication, testing and inspection in respect of safety shall possess the qualifications specified by the state, and they shall be responsible for the legality and authenticity of the results they make for the safety-related assessment, authentication, testing and inspection. Qualification conditions for such organizations shall be formulated by the emergency management department under the State Council in conjunction with relevant departments under the State Council.

Organizations responsible for assessment, authentication, testing and inspection in respect of safety shall develop and implement a system for disclosure of services and reports, and such organizations shall not lease their qualifications, allow the unqualified to be affiliated thereto, or produce counterfeit reports.

Article 73

Departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration shall develop a complaint system, and make public the reporting hotline, mail box addresses or network reporting platforms, such as e-mail addresses, known to the public for accepting complaints related to work safety. After the complained matters are investigated and verified, written records shall be kept. Where rectification measures need to be taken, the measures shall be submitted to the person directly in charge concerned for signature and implementation. Complaints that are not within the scope of responsibilities of said departments and need to be investigated and handled by other relevant departments shall be transferred to other relevant departments.

Complaints that involve death cases are to be verified and handled by the people's governments at or above the county level.

Article 74

All entities and individuals have the right to report or complain about accident hazards and illegal acts related to work safety to the departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration.

Where illegal acts related to work safety have caused major accident hazards or led to serious accidents, thus infringing upon national or public interests, the people's procuratorates may file public interest lawsuits in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Civil Procedure Law and the Administrative Procedure Law.

Article 75

When residents' committees or villagers' committees discover accident hazards or illegal acts related to work safety in production and operation entities located in their areas, they shall report the matter to the local people's governments or the departments concerned.

Article 76

People's governments at or above the county level and the relevant departments under them shall give awards to the people who have done meritorious services in reporting major accident hazards or complaining about illegal acts related to work safety. Specific measures for giving such awards shall be formulated by the emergency management department under the State Council in conjunction with the finance department under the State Council.

Article 77

News media, publishers, broadcasting agencies, film studios and television broadcasting agencies shall have the obligation to carry out non-profit publicity and education about work safety and the right to conduct supervision by means of public opinion over violations of laws and regulations on work safety.

Article 78

The departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration shall establish a database regarding violations of laws on work safety to truthfully record the information on violations of laws on work safety by production and operation entities and their relevant personnel. Regarding the production and operation entities and their relevant personnel that commit serious violations of laws, the departments shall issue public announcements in a timely manner, and give notification to departments in charge of the industry, investment, natural resources, ecology and environment, the securities regulatory organs and relevant financial institutions. With regard to the production and operation entities and their relevant personnel that have discreditable behaviors, relevant departments or organizations shall take joint disciplinary actions such as increasing the frequency of law-enforcement inspections, suspending approval of projects, increasing premium rates of insurance, banning from entering business or occupation, and disclosing such actions to society.

Departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration shall strengthen timely collection, sharing, application and publication of information on administrative punishment for production and operation entities. Within seven working days after the punishment decision is made on production and operation entities, the case shall be disclosed in the publicizing system of the department, so as to reinforce social supervision on production and operation entities and their relevant personnel that have violated laws and lost credibility, and improve society-wide credibility on work safety.

Chapter V Accident Rescue, Investigation and Handling

Article 79

The state shall strengthen the emergency response capacity regarding accidents related to work safety, set up emergency rescue bases and teams in major industries and sectors under the unified coordination and command of national work safety emergency rescue organization; encourage production and operation entities and other social actors to set up emergency rescue teams and be equipped with emergency rescue equipment and supplies and improve the level of the professionalism of emergency rescue.

The emergency management department under the State Council shall set up a national emergency rescue information system for accidents related to work safety. Relevant departments under the State Council such as departments of transportation, housing and urban-rural development, water resources, and civil aviation shall set up information systems within their jurisdiction. People's governments at the county level or above shall also establish and improve local emergency rescue information systems for accidents related to work safety designated for the relevant industries, sectors and regions, so as to achieve connectivity and information sharing. They shall improve the level of precision and intelligence of supervision through promoting internet-based work safety information collection, safety supervision, monitoring and early warning.

Article 80

Local people's governments at or above the county level shall organize relevant departments to formulate emergency plans for accidents related to work safety that may occur in their administrative regions and set up emergency rescue systems accordingly.

The people's governments of towns and townships, sub-district offices, management institutions of, inter alia, development zones, industrial parks, ports, and scenery resorts shall formulate their respective emergency plans for accidents related to work safety, and assist local government departments, or as authorized, to fulfill their duty for work accident rescue in accordance with the law.

Article 81

Production and operation entities shall formulate their own emergency plans for accidents related to work safety that are consistent with the emergency plans for accidents related to work safety formulated under the arrangement of local people's governments at or above the county level where they are located, and shall organize drills on a regular basis.

Article 82

Entities that manufacture, operate or store dangerous articles, mines and metal smelting entities, urban rail transit operations as well as construction entities shall set up their respective emergency rescue organizations. Entities engaged in small-scale production or business operation may be exempted from setting up such organizations but shall designate part-time emergency rescue personnel.

Entities that manufacture, operate or store dangerous articles, mines and metal smelting, urban rail transit operation as well as construction entities shall have at hand the necessary devices, equipment, and supplies for emergency rescue and have them maintained and serviced constantly to ensure their normal operation.

Article 83

When an accident related to work safety occurs in a production and operation entity, relevant persons at the accident scene shall immediately report it to the persons directly in charge of this entity.

On receiving such an accident report, the person directly in charge of the entity shall take prompt and effective measures to organize a rescue, prevent the accident from expanding and minimize the casualties and property loss, and they shall, in accordance with relevant state regulations, immediately and truthfully report the accident to the local department in charge of work safety supervision and administration. The person directly in charge of the entity must not conceal the accident, make a false report or delay the report, or deliberately damage the accident scene or destroy relevant evidence.

Article 84

On receiving the report on an accident, the department in charge of work safety supervision and administration shall, in accordance with relevant state regulations, report the accident immediately to the higher authority. No department in charge of work safety supervision and administration and relevant local people's government may conceal the facts of the accident, make a false report, or delay the report.

Article 85

On receiving the report of an accident related to work safety, the persons in charge of the local people's government concerned and of the department in charge of work safety supervision and administration shall, according to the requirements of the emergency plans for accidents related to work safety, immediately rush to the accident scene to organize a rescue.

The departments and entities participating in the accident rescue shall obey the unified directions, strengthen coordination and interaction, take effective emergency rescue measures and adopt, in light of the needs of the accident rescue, the measures such as alerting or evacuation to prevent the expansion of the accident and the occurrence of secondary disasters and to reduce the human casualties and property loss.

Necessary measures shall be adopted during the rescue to avoid or reduce the harm caused to the environment.

All entities and individuals shall provide assistance, cooperation and all possible conveniences for the accident rescue.

Article 86

In the investigation and handling of an accident, the principles of being scientific and rigorous, abiding by laws and regulations, seeking truth from facts and paying attention to practical results shall be applied in order to find out the accurate causes of the accident in a timely manner, make clear the nature of and responsibility for the accident, evaluate emergency response performance, draw lessons from the accident, formulate rectification measures and put forward suggestions for dealing with the entities and persons responsible for the accident. The accident investigation report shall be disclosed in accordance with the law in a timely manner. Specific measures for investigation and handling of accidents shall be formulated by the State Council.

The entity where the accident occurs shall implement rectification measures in a timely and comprehensive manner and the department in charge of work safety supervision and administration shall strengthen supervision and inspection.

Within one year after approving the accident investigation report, relevant departments under the State Council in charge of accident investigation and handling and the local people's government shall organize relevant departments to assess the implementation of accident rectification and prevention measures, and disclose the results of such assessment to society in a timely manner. Entities and personnel that have failed to ensure the implementation of the rectification and prevention measures shall be held accountable according to relevant regulations.

Article 87

Where a production or business entity is confirmed to be accountable for an accident related to work safety, the liability of the entity where the accident occurs shall be investigated in accordance with the law, and the liability to be undertaken by the administrative departments in charge of examination and approval of and supervision over matters related to work safety shall also be ascertained according to the provisions in Article 90 of this Law if negligence or dereliction of duty is found.

Article 88

No entity or individual may obstruct or interfere with the lawful investigation into and handling of the accidents.

Article 89

Emergency management departments under the local people's governments at or above the county level shall regularly prepare statistics and make an analysis of accidents related to work safety that have occurred within their administrative areas and disclose to the society regularly.

Chapter VI Legal Liability

Article 90

A staff member of the department in charge of work safety supervision and administration who commits one of the following acts shall be demoted or discharged from his post as a sanction; if such an act constitutes a crime, the staff member shall be investigated for criminal responsibility according to the provisions of the Criminal Law:

(1) giving approval or authorizing acceptance to matters related to work safety that do not meet the statutory work safety conditions;

(2) failing to outlaw or deal with, in accordance with the law, entities after discovering that the entities are engaged in relevant activities without obtaining approval or acceptance in accordance with the law or after receiving reports thereof;

(3) failing to perform the duty of supervision and administration over the entities that have obtained approval in accordance with the law, failing to cancel the approval given to the entities that the staff member finds no longer meet the work safety conditions, or failing to investigate and deal with violations of laws and regulations related to work safety; and

(4) failing to deal with the hazards that may cause serious accidents discovered during supervision and inspection in accordance with the law in a timely manner.

A staff member of the departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration who commits any acts of abusing power, neglecting duties, or engaging in malpractice for personal gains other than those provided in the preceding paragraph shall be given sanctions in accordance with the law; if the act constitutes a crime, the staff member shall be investigated for his criminal responsibility in accordance with relevant provisions of the Criminal Law.

Article 91

Where a department in charge of work safety supervision and administration requires that the entity under examination and check for acceptance purchase certain work safety equipment, devices, or other products designated by the department, or charges fees for examining or checking for acceptance matters related to work safety, the authority at a higher level or a supervisory organization shall order the department to make rectification or return the fees charged; if the circumstances are serious, the persons directly in charge and other persons directly responsible shall be given sanctions in accordance with the law.

Article 92

Where an organization in charge of work safety assessment, authentication, testing, and inspection related to work safety produces untruthful reports, the organization is subject to suspension and rectification and a fine not less than RMB 30,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 100,000 Yuan. Where such behavior incurs harm to other parties, the organization shall assume liability for compensation in accordance with the law.

Where an organization in charge of assessment, authentication, testing, and inspection related to work safety leases qualification, allows the unqualified to be affiliated thereto, or produces untruthful reports, the illegal gains shall be confiscated; if the illegal gains exceed RMB 100,000 Yuan, the organization shall, in addition, be fined not less than two times but not more than five times the amount of the illegal gains; if there are no illegal gains or the illegal gains are less than RMB 100,000 Yuan, it shall be fined not less than RMB 100,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 200,000 Yuan alone or concurrently with other punishments, and its person-in-charge and other persons directly responsible shall be fined not less than RMB 50,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 100,000 Yuan. If damage is caused to others, the organization shall bear joint and several liability for compensation with the production or operation entities. If the act constitutes a crime, the organization shall be held criminally liable in accordance with relevant provisions of the Criminal Law.

Corresponding qualification and certification of organizations and their persons directly responsible that are involved in violations mentioned in the preceding paragraph shall be revoked, and such organizations and persons shall not engage in assessment, authentication, testing and inspection related to work safety for the next five years, shall be subject to a life-long ban from industry or occupation if the circumstance is serious.

Article 93

Any decision-making body or principal person in charge of a production and operation entity or any investor of an individual operation entity that fails to guarantee, in accordance with the provisions of this Law, funds that are essential to work safety, thus resulting in the production and operation entity not meeting the work safety conditions, the production and operation entity shall be ordered to make rectification by providing the necessary amount of funds within a specified time limit. If it does not make rectification within the time limit, the production and operation entity shall be ordered to suspend production or business operation for rectification.

In the event of the violation of laws as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, which leads to the occurrence of an accident related to work safety, the principal person directly in charge of the production and operation entity shall be discharged from his post, or the investor of the individual operation entity shall be fined not less than RMB 20,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 200,000 Yuan. If the violation constitutes a crime, the entity shall be subject to criminal liability in accordance with relevant provisions of the Criminal Law.

Article 94

Where the principal person in charge of a production and operation entity fails to perform his duty for control over work safety as provided in this Law, the person shall be ordered to make rectification within a specified time limit and fined not less than RMB 20,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 Yuan. If the person fails to make rectification within the time limit, the person shall be fined not less than RMB 50,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 100,000 Yuan, and the production and operation entity shall be ordered to suspend production or business operation for rectification.

The principal person directly in charge of a production and operation entity who violates laws as mentioned in the preceding paragraph, which leads to an accident related to work safety, shall be discharged from his post if the violation constitutes a crime, and the entity shall be subject to criminal liability in accordance with relevant provisions of the Criminal Law.

The principal person directly in charge of a production and operation entity, on whom a criminal punishment is imposed or who is discharged from his post in accordance with the provisions in the preceding paragraph, may not, within five years from the date on which the criminal punishment is served or the date on which he is discharged from his post, work as a principal person directly in charge of any production and operation entity. If the person is liable for a serious or extremely serious accident related to work safety, the person shall never work as a principal person directly in charge of any production and operation entity in the industry concerned for life.

Article 95

Where the principal person directly in charge of a production and operation entity fails to perform the work safety management duties provided in this Law, leading to an accident related to work safety, the emergency management department shall impose a fine on the person according to the following provisions:

(1) a fine equivalent to forty percent of the previous year's annual income shall be imposed in the event of a common accident;

(2) a fine equivalent to sixty percent of the previous year's annual income shall be imposed in the event of a relatively serious accident;

(3) a fine equivalent to eighty percent of the previous year's annual income shall be imposed in the event of a serious accident; and

(4) a fine equivalent to one hundred percent of the previous year's annual income shall be imposed in the event of an extremely serious accident.

Article 96

Other persons directly in charge and work safety management personnel of a production and operation entity who fail to perform the duties for work safety management provided in this Law shall be ordered to make rectification within a specified time limit, and fined not less than RMB 10,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 30,000 Yuan. If an accident related to work safety occurs as a result, the person's qualification relating to work safety shall be suspended or canceled, with a fine equivalent to more than twenty percent but less than fifty percent of his previous year's annual income. If the person's act constitutes a crime, the entity shall be subject to criminal liability in accordance with relevant provisions of the Criminal Law.

Article 97

Any production and operation entity that commits one of the following acts shall be ordered to make rectification within a specified time limit and, in addition, be fined not more than RMB 100,000 Yuan; if it fails to make rectification within the time limit, it shall be ordered to suspend production or business operation for rectification and, in addition, be fined not less than RMB 100,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 200,000 Yuan, and its person-in-charge and other persons directly responsible shall each be fined not less than RMB 20,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 Yuan:

(1) failing to set up a work safety management organization, or failing to designate persons for work safety management and certified safety engineers, as required by regulations;

(2) the principal persons-in-charge or the person who manages work safety in an entity that manufactures, markets, stores, loads or unloads dangerous articles or in a mine or a metal smelting, construction or transport entity fails to pass the qualification examinations as required by regulations;

(3) failing to conduct, among its employees, dispatched workers, and student interns, education and work safety training according to relevant provisions, or failing to truthfully inform them of the matters relating to work safety in accordance with relevant provisions;

(4) failing to truthfully record the situation on work safety education and training;

(5) failing to truthfully record, or to notify the employees of, the situation on identification and rectification of the hazards that may cause accidents;

(6) failing to formulate the emergency rescue plans for accidents related to work safety or to organize drills on a regular basis in accordance with relevant provisions; and

(7) failing to ensure that workers receive special operation training for work safety and obtain corresponding certificates before they start operating at special posts.

Article 98

Any production and operation entity that is involved in the following circumstances shall be ordered to suspend construction, or to suspend production and business operation, for rectification within a specified time limit, and shall concurrently be fined not less than RMB 100,000 Yuan and not more than RMB 500,000 Yuan, and its person-in-charge and other persons directly responsible shall each be fined not less than RMB 20,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 Yuan; if the entity fails to make rectification within the time limit, it shall be fined not less than RMB 500,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 1 million Yuan, and its person-in-charge and other persons directly responsible shall each be fined not less than RMB 50,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 100,000 Yuan; if the act constitutes a crime, the entity shall be subject to criminal liability in accordance with relevant provisions of the Criminal Law:

(1) where safety assessment is not conducted for the construction projects for mines or metal smelting, or construction projects for the manufacture, storage, loading or unloading of dangerous articles, as required by relevant regulations;

(2) where there is no design of safety facilities for construction projects for mines or metal smelting or construction projects for the manufacture, storage, loading or unloading of dangerous articles are, or such designs are not submitted to the relevant departments for examination and approval, as required by relevant regulations;

(3) where the entity undertaking the construction projects for a mine or metal smelting, or construction projects for the manufacture, storage, loading or unloading of dangerous articles fails to carry out the project in line with the approved design of safety facilities; and

(4) where the construction project for a mine or metal smelting, or the construction project for the manufacture and storage, loading and unloading of dangerous articles is completed and put into production or use before the safety facilities pass the inspection for acceptance.

Article 99

Any production and operation entity that commits one of the following acts shall be ordered to make rectification within a specified time limit and be fined not more than RMB 50,000 Yuan; if the entity fails to make rectification within the time limit, it shall be fined not less than RMB 50,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 200,000 Yuan and its person-in-charge and other persons directly responsible shall each be fined not less than RMB 10,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 20,000 Yuan; if the violation proves gross, the entity shall be ordered to suspend production or business operation for rectification; if the act constitutes a crime, the entity shall be subject to criminal liability in accordance with relevant provisions of the Criminal Law:

(1) where no conspicuous safety precaution signs are posted in production and operation places and at relevant facilities and equipment where the factors of relatively grave danger exist;

(2) where the safety equipment is not installed, used, tested, renovated or abandoned in compliance with national standards or industry standards;

(3) where the safety equipment is not constantly maintained or served, or regularly tested;

(4) where surveillance, alarming, protection or life-saving equipment or facilities that directly affect work safety are shut down or destroyed, or where relevant data and information are tampered with, concealed or destroyed;

(5) where no work protection supplies that are up to the national or industry standards are provided to employees;

(6) where the containers and conveyances for dangerous articles, as well as the special equipment for offshore oil exploitation and underground mining that threatens the safety of people's lives and is of great danger, are put into use without certificates for safety use or safety tags issued after passing the test or check conducted by professionally qualified authorities;

(7) where the techniques and equipment threaten work safety and ought to be eliminated; and

(8) where production and operation entities in catering or other industries use flammable gas without installing flammable gas alarming devices.

Article 100

Any entity that, without obtaining approval in accordance with the law, produces, markets, transports, stores, uses dangerous articles or disposes of abandoned dangerous articles shall be punished in accordance with the laws and administrative regulations on safety management of dangerous articles. If such an act constitutes a crime, the entity shall be subject to criminal liability in accordance with relevant provisions of the Criminal Law.

Article 101

Any production and operation entity that commits one of the following acts shall be ordered to make rectification within a specified time limit and be fined not more than RMB 100,000 Yuan; if the entity fails to make the rectification within the time limit, it shall be ordered to suspend production or business operation for rectification and, concurrently, be fined not less than RMB 100,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 200,000 Yuan, and its person-in-charge and other persons directly responsible shall each be fined not less than RMB 20,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 50,000 Yuan; if such an act constitutes a crime, the entity shall be subject to criminal liability in accordance with relevant provisions of the Criminal Law:

(1) failing to establish a specific safety management system, or to adopt reliable safety measures for manufacturing, dealing in, transporting, storing or using dangerous articles, or disposing of abandoned dangerous articles;

(2) failing to have the sources of major hazards recorded and have the records documented, or failing to make regular testing, assessment or monitoring, failing to make emergency response plans or notify the emergency measures;

(3) when carrying out blasting or hoisting, using open fire, temporarily using electricity or doing any other dangerous operations specified by the emergency management departments under the State Council in conjunction with relevant departments under the State Council, failing to designate special persons for safety management on site;

(4) failing to establish a tiered risk management system, or to take corresponding control measures according to risk levels, and

(5) failing to establish an identification and rectification system for hazards that may cause accidents, or to report the results of hazard screening and rectification according to regulations.

Article 102

Any production and operation entity that fails to adopt measures to eliminate accident hazards shall be ordered to eliminate hazards immediately or within a specified time limit, and fined no more than RMB 50,000 Yuan; if the entity fails to do so, it shall be ordered to suspend production and operation for rectification, and its person-in-charge and other persons directly responsible shall each be fined not less than RMB 50,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 100,000 Yuan. If the act constitutes a crime, the entity shall be subject to criminal liability in accordance with relevant provisions of the Criminal Law.

Article 103

Any production and operation entity that contracts out or leases production or operation projects, workplaces or equipment to entities or individuals that do not possess the work safety conditions or the necessary qualifications shall be ordered to make rectification within a specified time limit and its illegal gains shall be confiscated; if the illegal gains exceed RMB 100,000 Yuan, the entity shall, in addition, be fined not less than two times the illegal gains but not more than five times the amount; if there are no illegal gains, or the illegal gains are less than RMB 100,000 Yuan, the entity shall be fined not less than RMB 100,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 200,000 Yuan alone or concurrently with confiscation of all the illegal gains. In the aforementioned cases, persons directly in charge and other persons directly responsible for the production and operation entity shall each be fined not less than RMB 10,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 20,000 Yuan; if an accident related to work safety occurs as a result, causing damage to other parties, the entity shall bear the joint and several liability for compensation together with the contractors or lessees.

If the production and operation entity fails to sign a special agreement on work safety management with each of the contractors or lessees, if it fails to clarify the responsibilities of each party for work safety management specified in the contract, or if it fails to conduct overall coordination and control over work safety of the contractors or lessees, it shall be ordered to make rectification within a specified time limit and be fined not more than RMB 50,000 Yuan and its person-in-charge and other persons directly responsible shall each be fined not more than RMB 10,000 Yuan; if it fails to make the correction within the time limit, it shall be ordered to suspend production or business operation for rectification.

If the construction entities of the construction projects for mines, metal smelting and the production, storage and loading and unloading of dangerous articles fail to carry out safety management of construction projects in accordance with the regulations, they shall be ordered to make rectification within a time limit and fined not more than RMB 100,000 Yuan, and its person-in-charge and other persons directly responsible shall be fined not more than RMB 20,000 Yuan; if the entities fail to make rectification within the time limit, they shall be ordered to suspend production or business operation for rectification. If the above mentioned construction entities sell, lease, or lend their construction qualifications, allow the unqualified to be affiliated thereto, or illegally transfer the qualifications in other forms, the entities shall be ordered to suspend production and business operation for rectification, and their qualification certificates shall be revoked and illegal gains confiscated; if the illegal gains exceed RMB 100,000 Yuan, they shall be fined not less than two times but not more than five times the illegal gains, and if there are no illegal gains or the illegal gains are less than RMB 100,000 Yuan, they shall be fined not less than RMB 100,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 200,000 Yuan alone or concurrently with confiscation of all the illegal gains; its person-in-charge or other persons directly responsible shall each be fined not less than RMB 50,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 100,000 Yuan; if the act constitutes a crime, the entity shall be subject to criminal liability in accordance with relevant provisions of the Criminal Law.

Article 104

Where two or more production or operation entities in the same workplace are conducting production or operation activities that present potential dangers to each other's work safety, and if they fail to enter into an agreement on work safety management or to assign full-time persons for work safety management to conduct safety inspections and coordination, they shall be ordered to make rectification within a specified time limit and be fined not more than RMB 50,000 Yuan and its person-in-charge and other persons directly responsible shall each be fined not more than RMB 10,000 Yuan; if they fail to do so within the time limit, they shall be ordered to suspend production or business operation.

Article 105

Any production and operation entity that commits one of the following acts shall be ordered to make rectification within a specified time limit and be fined not more than RMB 50,000 Yuan and its person-in-charge and other persons directly responsible shall each be fined not more than RMB 10,000 Yuan; if it fails to do so on the expiration of the time limit, it shall be ordered to suspend production or business operation for rectification; if a crime is constituted, the entity shall be held criminally liable in accordance with the relevant provisions in the Criminal Law:

(1) having workshops, stores or warehouses where dangerous articles are manufactured, sold, stored or used share the same building with the employees' living quarters or the distance between these structures and the employees' living quarters is not up to the safety requirements;

(2) having no exits or evacuation routes that meet the requirements for emergency evacuation and are indicated clearly and kept unobstructed at manufacturing and marketing places and in the living quarters of employees, or keeping the said exits or evacuation routes occupied, locked or blocked.

Article 106

Where a production and operation entity signs an agreement with its employees in an attempt to relieve itself of, or lighten, the responsibilities it should bear in accordance with the law for the employees who are injured or killed as a result of accidents related to work safety, the agreement shall be invalid, and the principal person in charge of the entity or the investor of the individual operation entity shall be fined not less than RMB 20,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 100,000 Yuan.

Article 107

Where an employee of a production and operation entity fails to fulfill work safety responsibilities of the post, refuses to subject himself to supervision, or violates work safety rules and regulations or operation instructions, said production and operation entity shall criticize and educate the employee and take disciplinary action against the employee in accordance with relevant rules and regulations; if the violation constitutes a crime, the employee shall be held criminally liable according to the relevant provisions in the Criminal Law.

Article 108

Any production and operation entity that, in violation of this Law, rejects and hinders supervision and inspection carried out by the department in charge of work safety supervision and administration in accordance with the law shall be ordered to make rectification; if the entity refuses to make rectification, it shall be fined not less than RMB 20,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 200,000 Yuan and its person-in-charge and other persons directly responsible shall each be fined not less than RMB 10,000 Yuan but more than RMB 20,000 Yuan; if the act constitutes a crime, the entity shall be subject to criminal liability in accordance with relevant provisions of the Criminal Law.

Article 109

Any production and operation entity in highly hazardous industries or sectors that fails to purchase work safety liability insurance according to state regulations shall be ordered to purchase such insurance within a given time limit, and be fined not less than RMB 50,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 100,000 Yuan; if the entity fails to do so within the time limit, it shall be fined not less than RMB 100,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 200,000 Yuan.

Article 110

Where, when an accident related to work safety occurs in a production and operation entity, a principal person directly in charge of the entity fails to immediately arrange a rescue or, during the period of investigation and handling of the accident, leaves his post without permission or goes into hiding, the person shall be demoted or discharged from his post as a punishment and shall be imposed a fine not less than sixty percent but not more than one hundred percent of his previous annual income by the emergency management department; as for a person who goes into hiding, the person shall be detained for not more than 15 days; if the act constitutes a crime, the person shall be subject to criminal liability in accordance with relevant provisions of the Criminal Law.

Where the principal person directly in charge of a production and operation entity conceals the facts of an accident, makes false reports of the accident or delays such reports, the person shall be punished in accordance with the provisions in the preceding paragraph.

Article 111

Where the local people's government or the departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration conceal any accident, make false reports of the accident or delay such reports, the person-in-charge and other persons directly responsible shall be given sanctions according to the law; if a crime is constituted, criminal liability shall be investigated in accordance with the relevant provisions of the Criminal Law.

Article 112

Where a production and operation entity violates the provisions of this Law and is ordered to make a rectification and is subject to fines, but refuses to make the rectification, the department in charge of work safety supervision and administration shall continuously impose fines at the amount of the original fine on a daily basis from the next day of the date on which the order for rectification is given.

Article 113

Where any of the following circumstances exists in production and operation entities, the department in charge of work safety supervision and administration shall request the local people's government to close down the entity, and the relevant department shall revoke the relevant licenses according to the law. The principal person in charge of the entity shall not be the principal person in charge of any other entity within five years; if the circumstances prove to be serious, said person shall not be appointed to be in charge of any entity of the industry concerned for life:

(1) where there are major hazards and penalties are imposed three times within 180 days or four times within a year according to this Law;

(2) where work safety conditions stipulated by laws, administrative regulations, and national or industry standards are still not met after suspension of production and operation and rectification;

(3) where work safety conditions prescribed by laws, administrative regulations, national standards or industry standards are not met, resulting in the occurrence of serious or extremely serious accidents related to work safety;

(4) where the decision of the department in charge of work safety supervision and administration to suspend production and operation is not implemented.

Article 114

Where an accident related to work safety occurs, the production and operation entity that is responsible shall, in addition to bearing appropriate liability for, inter alia, compensation, be fined by the emergency management department according to the following provisions:

(1) In the event of a general accident, a fine not less than RMB 300,000 Yuan but not more than RMB 1 million Yuan shall be imposed;

(2) In the event of a relatively serious accident, a fine not less than RMB 1 million Yuan but not more than RMB 2 million Yuan shall be imposed;

(3) In the event of a serious accident, a fine not less than RMB 2 million Yuan but not more than RMB 10 million Yuan shall be imposed; and

(4) In the event of an extremely serious accident, a fine not less than RMB 10 million Yuan but not more than RMB 20 million Yuan shall be imposed.

Where the accident features grave circumstances and generates extremely serious impacts, a fine not less than two times but not more than five times of the sum of fine set in the preceding paragraph shall be imposed by the emergency management department on the accountable production and operation entity.

Article 115

The administrative punishment provided for in this Law shall be decided by the emergency management departments and other departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration according to their respective responsibilities; among which, punishments for production and operation entities and their principal persons-in-charge in industries of civil aviation, railroad and electricity may also be imposed by the departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration according to articles 95, 110 and 114 of this Law. The administrative punishment that requires the closure of an entity shall be submitted by the department in charge of work safety supervision and administration to the people's government at or above the county level, which shall make the decision within the limits of its powers specified by the State Council; and the administrative punishment that requires detention shall be determined by the public security organ in accordance with the provisions in the regulations on administrative penalties for public security.

Article 116

Where an accident related to work safety that occurs in a production and operation entity results in injuries or deaths of employees and causes property losses to other persons, the production and operation entity shall bear the liability for compensation in accordance with the law; if the entity refuses to bear the liability or the person directly in charge of the entity goes into hiding, the people's court shall take enforcement measures in accordance with the law.

If the person responsible for the accident who fails to bear the liability for compensation in accordance with the law remains unable to pay compensation in full to the victims after the people's court has taken enforcement measures in accordance with the law, the person shall continue to perform the obligation of compensation. If the victims find that the person has other property, they may, at any time, make a request to the people's court for enforcement.

Chapter VII Supplementary Provisions

Article 117

The terms used in this Law are defined as follows:

"Dangerous articles" refer to materials that present potential threats to the safety of persons and property, such as combustibles and explosives, hazardous chemical materials and radioactive substances, etc.

"Sources of major hazards" refer to long-term or temporary operation units (including the places and facilities) involving the manufacture, transport, use or storage of hazardous materials, the amount of which equals to or exceeds the critical amount.

Article 118

The standards for identifying general accidents, relatively serious accidents, serious accidents and extremely serious accidents shall be provided for by the State Council.

The emergency management department under the State Council and other departments in charge of work safety supervision and administration shall, in light of respective responsibilities, formulate the standards for identifying sources of major hazards and defining hazards that may cause serious accidents in relevant industries or sectors.

Article 119

This Law shall go into effect as of November 1, 2002.

This work is a translation and has a separate copyright status to the applicable copyright protections of the original content.

Original:	This work is in the public domain because it is exempted by Article 5 of Chinese copyright law. This exempts all Chinese government and judicial documents, and their official translations, from copyright. It also exempts simple factual information, and calendars, numerical tables, and other forms of general use and formulas. Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse
Translation:	This work is in the public domain because it is exempted by Article 5 of Chinese copyright law. This exempts all Chinese government and judicial documents, and their official translations, from copyright. It also exempts simple factual information, and calendars, numerical tables, and other forms of general use and formulas. Public domainPublic domainfalsefalse