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.