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.