Emergency notice on further strengthening current security prevention work

Safety production committees of provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, and the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, as well as relevant member units of the State Council Safety Committee:

On July 5, two tourist boats carrying Chinese tourists capsized in the waters near Phuket, Thailand, resulting in significant casualties among our citizens. The Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council attach great importance to this incident. General Secretary Xi Jinping issued important instructions, and Premier Li Keqiang made comments. Currently, it is the main flood season and summer vacation, with a surge in travel, increasing safety risks. All regions, relevant departments, and units must earnestly implement the important instructions and comments from central leaders, effectively strengthen safety precautions, strictly implement responsibility measures, and effectively prevent and curb major accidents, ensuring the safety of people's lives and property. The following requirements are hereby notified:

1. Strictly implement the safety responsibility system

We must strengthen the awareness of safety red lines, adhere to the principle of life first and safety paramount, strictly implement the safety production responsibility system for local party and government leaders, reinforce the responsibility of the 'first person in charge' for safety, and truly take safety responsibilities seriously. Leaders at all levels must take urgent action, command from the front, and promptly redeploy current safety prevention work, sending work teams to various places to strengthen safety supervision and inspection. We must further strengthen the safety supervision responsibilities of relevant departments, assess safety risks based on industry characteristics, identify major risk points, concentrate efforts on rectification, and fully resolve risks and hidden dangers. We should combine ongoing fire safety assessments with continuous inspections using the 'four not two direct' method to strengthen supervision and inspection in key areas, sectors, and units, reinforcing the implementation of safety responsibilities and measures. We must urge all types of production and operation units to strictly implement their primary safety production responsibilities, quickly conduct self-inspections and corrections, and check the implementation of safety prevention measures at key links and positions to prevent major accidents.

2. Strengthen monitoring, early warning, and risk alerts for hazardous weather

All regions, relevant departments, and units must closely monitor flood and disaster situations, fully utilize forecasting results from meteorological, oceanographic, seismic, hydrological, and geological disaster departments, scientifically assess the development trends of hazardous weather, and ensure timely sharing of information and synchronized emergency responses. We must improve early warning methods, using channels such as radio, television, Weibo, WeChat, and mobile SMS platforms to promptly release and continuously broadcast warning information and risk alerts, ensuring that disaster and hazard information is communicated to relevant departments, enterprises, and individuals in a timely manner, guiding enterprises and the public to take preventive measures. Tourism departments at all levels should promptly issue travel safety alerts, reminding tourists to closely monitor weather, health, transportation, emergencies, and public security conditions at their travel destinations, and to prepare necessary personal safety precautions before departure. We must increase safety publicity and education efforts, popularize risk prevention and disaster reduction knowledge, and enhance the safety awareness and escape skills of the entire society.

3. Effectively strengthen safety prevention work for tourism and summer vacations

Tourism and education departments at all levels must adhere to the principle that 'management of the industry must include safety management' and strengthen safety work in their respective systems and fields. Tourism departments should enhance market supervision, regulate tourism order, and severely crack down on illegal activities such as 'black intermediaries', 'black vehicles', and 'black tour guides'; organizations involved in maritime tourism, water tourism, mountain tourism, and outdoor tourism must reasonably control the number of participants, ensure safety equipment and facilities are in place, closely monitor weather changes, adjust travel itineraries in a timely manner, and strictly implement security measures; we must strengthen safety management at tourist attractions, conduct continuous safety inspections, promptly identify and rectify safety hazards, and decisively close and announce the closure of attractions in the event of extreme weather or significant risks that cannot be promptly addressed to prevent harm to individuals; we should reasonably guide and control visitor flow based on the carrying capacity of attractions to prevent overcrowding and stampede accidents. Education departments should enhance safety education for teachers and students, especially for primary and secondary school students, using relevant accident cases to impart safety knowledge and explain safety prevention knowledge and skills; we must strengthen safety management for group activities involving teachers and students, urging activity organizers and team leaders to strictly implement safety prevention measures to ensure the safety of various activities such as exploration, outings, swimming, performances, competitions, study tours, and training.

4. Deepen the investigation and rectification of hidden dangers in key industries and sectors. All regions, relevant departments, and units must deeply learn from the lessons of recent major accidents at home and abroad, focusing on key regions, industries, units, and links, and thoroughly investigate and rectify safety hazards. For water transportation, we must strengthen on-site supervision in the 'six zones and one line' (Bohai Sea, Yangtze River estuary, Zhoushan Islands, Taiwan Strait, Pearl River estuary, Qiongzhou Strait, and the Yangtze River), enhance dynamic supervision of ferry terminals, reservoirs, navigation-intensive areas, and tourist areas, fully utilize enterprise CCTV, GPS, AIS, and other means to dynamically monitor key vessels such as tourist boats, and promptly implement navigation bans and restrictions, prohibiting vessels from sailing in severe weather and adverse hydrological conditions. For road and rail traffic, we must strengthen monitoring and inspection of bridges, culverts, and slopes, focus on rectifying safety protection facilities in accident-prone sections, and promptly identify and eliminate hazards; we must enhance safety checks and location monitoring of key vehicles such as passenger buses and hazardous materials transport vehicles, strictly prevent 'three excesses and one fatigue' phenomena, and prevent vehicles from being affected by floods, high temperatures, and lightning, leading to water-related, spontaneous combustion, or explosion accidents. For mines and tailings ponds, we must strengthen safety inspections and monitoring of mining subsidence areas, flooded areas, and tailings dam bodies and surrounding mountains, implement 'three defenses' measures during the rainy season, and resolutely prevent flooding and dam failure accidents. For hazardous chemicals and fireworks, we must strengthen safety inspections and production monitoring, implement targeted measures for waterproofing, moisture-proofing, and cooling, strictly enforce production suspension regulations during high temperatures and thunderstorms, and prevent leaks, explosions, and other accidents. For construction sites, we must thoroughly investigate risks of natural disasters such as floods, landslides, and mudslides at key locations such as camps, construction sheds, and warehouses, strictly control safety distances, and take effective preventive measures in advance in the event of extreme weather such as heavy rain and strong winds. Other types of enterprises should strengthen safety inspections and hidden danger investigations during the flood and summer seasons based on actual conditions, preventing natural disasters from causing production safety accidents and ensuring absolute safety.

5. Strengthen emergency response and handling work. All regions, relevant departments, and units must enhance emergency duty, strictly implement leadership supervision and 24-hour duty systems, ensure smooth communication, and promptly and accurately report and initiate emergency responses upon discovering hazards. All types of production and operation units must closely monitor disaster warning information, improve emergency plans, strengthen emergency drills, master basic emergency handling skills and on-site rescue skills, and ensure adequate emergency material reserves. Upon discovering major hazards, they must promptly take preventive measures such as halting production, evacuating personnel, and escaping to safety. Emergency rescue teams for fire, mining, hazardous chemicals, earthquakes, and forest fire prevention must strengthen duty readiness, enhance training and equipment preparation, and maintain a state of emergency at all times to ensure a strong, orderly, and effective response to any hazards that may occur, fully safeguarding the lives and property of the people.

Office of the State Council Safety Committee, Ministry of Emergency Management

July 6, 2018