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Notice from the Office of the State Council Work Safety Committee on the Major Burn Accident of Liaoning Yingkou Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. on June 22

Anwei Ban Han [2023] No. 86

To the safety production committees of various provinces, autonomous regions, municipalities directly under the central government, and Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps:

At around 7:55 am on June 22, 2023, the No. 1 blast furnace of Yingkou Iron and Steel Co., Ltd. in Yingkou City, Liaoning Province, burned through its hearth during production, and the liquid slag iron exploded when encountering cooling water. Currently, 5 people have died and 4 people have been injured. The accident occurred during the self inspection and self correction stage of the 2023 special investigation and rectification of major accident hazards, during the National Safety Production Month, and on the first day of the Dragon Boat Festival holiday. The public attention was high and the social impact was severe. The Office of the State Council's Work Safety Committee has implemented a list supervision on the investigation and handling of the accident, and the People's Government of Liaoning Province has upgraded the investigation. After preliminary investigation, the accident exposed the following prominent issues:

One is that the awareness of safety production in enterprises is weak, emphasizing production over safety, and engaging in illegal and reckless behavior. The No. 1 blast furnace that experienced the accident was put into operation in 2012 and is now in the late stage of operation. Special attention should be paid to the safety status of the furnace hearth during this stage. At 15:55 on June 21st, iron leakage occurred in the main ditch of the west tapping hole of the blast furnace. The enterprise temporarily changed the alternating tapping holes on the east and west sides to single tapping holes on the east side. The leaked molten iron will be used for real-time monitoring of the temperature of the furnace hearth. The thermocouple signal parameter cable for real-time monitoring of the furnace hearth temperature will be burned out. Without analyzing the impact of single tapping holes on the erosion of refractory materials in the furnace hearth and monitoring the temperature of the furnace hearth in real-time, the enterprise took a risk and worked for 16 hours.

The second is the chaotic safety management of enterprises, with serious safety hazards. Yingkou Iron and Steel has safety hazards in various aspects such as the layout of escape routes, the functional settings of the main control building, and the professional background of the operators. The main control building is located about 50 meters east of the accident blast furnace, and there are stairwells at both ends near and far from the blast furnace body. When the furnace hearth burns through, the cooling water of the blast furnace quickly vaporizes when it encounters the leaked liquid slag iron. A large amount of high-pressure steam rushes towards the main control building, and the air wave breaks through the window and enters the stairwell near the blast furnace body, causing 9 casualties in the escape from here. The main control building also serves as an office building, with some administrative personnel from functional departments working inside the building, increasing the security risk in the area. Key personnel such as the director, furnace manager, and foreman of the ironmaking plant only focus on the technical indicators of daily production of the blast furnace, lacking basic understanding of safety risks in the later stage of furnace operation. They do not pay attention to, understand, and master important parameters such as the thickness of refractory materials, thermocouple temperature, and heat flux intensity that need to be monitored, and do not take corresponding preventive and control measures.

The third is that the lessons learned from accidents are not profound, and regulatory enforcement is not in place. From December last year to before this accident, there were four major accidents in steel enterprises across the country, of which three occurred in Liaoning Province. The main person in charge of Yingkou Iron and Steel failed to fulfill their duties as the "first responsible person" and did not organize inspections of their own safety production work based on the lessons learned from accidents in the same industry, and promptly eliminate hidden dangers of production safety accidents; The local regulatory authorities did not attach enough importance to the safety production of steel enterprises, and did not take effective measures in supervision. After the "100 day zero clearance action" for the special rectification of safety production in the industry and trade industry in 2022, they did not further increase law enforcement inspections, and the results of the rectification were not consolidated. They did not firmly grasp the initiative of safety supervision work in steel enterprises.

To deeply learn from the lessons of accidents, prevent and resolve major safety risks, and resolutely curb the occurrence of various accidents in industries such as steel, the following work requirements are proposed:

1. work hard on the concept of safe development in the tree. All regions should further strengthen the concept of safe development, adhere to the people first, life first, and effectively coordinate development and security. It is necessary to conscientiously implement the spirit of the national emergency video conference on safety prevention work, have a clear understanding of the current complex and severe safety production situation, and pay close attention to the work with a sense of responsibility of "always worrying. It is necessary to promote enterprises to enhance their risk awareness, improve their initiative and consciousness in the investigation and rectification of hidden risks, put all kinds of work ahead of schedule, and earnestly implement them in front-line workshops, teams, and posts, so as to truly solve the problems at the bud and before the disaster.

2. worked hard to learn the lessons of the accident. All regions should deeply learn the lessons of various recent production safety accidents, and on the basis of consolidating the results of the "100-day zero clearing action" in the special rectification of production safety in the industry and trade industry in 2022, draw inferences from one another, and strengthen safety supervision in key industries such as steel. It is necessary to combine accident cases, carefully find out the shortcomings and deficiencies in safety supervision, formulate and improve targeted measures and methods, establish and improve the accident hidden danger investigation responsibility reverse investigation mechanism and effectively implement it. It is necessary to urge enterprises to carry out safety warning education in a timely manner, adhere to the principle of giving priority to prevention and combining prevention and rescue, formulate emergency plans and on-site disposal plans in line with reality, carry out emergency drills in a down-to-earth manner, and do a good job in drill evaluation and rectification, so as to prevent emergency drills from becoming mere formality.

3. work hard to strengthen the quality of hidden danger investigation. All regions should pay close attention to the "key minority" of the main person in charge of the enterprise, supervise and guide them to take the lead in studying and studying and personally organize the investigation and rectification of major accident hidden dangers, carry out risk identification for key equipment, especially equipment and facilities with high safety risks, and formulate effective safety control measures. Strengthen equipment spot inspection and post inspection, and rectify hidden dangers immediately when they are found. Strengthen the safety management of production equipment and facilities in the later service, strictly prevent "sub-health" operation, "will" production, and effectively do not produce unsafe.

4. work hard to improve the safety literacy of all employees. All regions should urge iron and steel enterprises to be equipped with professional safety management personnel, especially the person in charge of safety in enterprises to understand technology and equipment, strictly prevent safety management from being out of touch with the actual production, strengthen safety education and skills training for employees, and on-site operators should understand safety and emergency response, and strictly prevent ignorance, fearlessness and recklessness. It is necessary to urge enterprises to pay attention to the psychological state of employees in special periods such as production and operation difficulties, restructuring and reorganization, and provide timely psychological counseling to maintain a stable mentality of employees and reduce the loss of personnel; do a good job in the talent team to "pass on and guide", give full play to the role of the safety team, and form a good atmosphere in the enterprise that "everyone talks about safety and everyone will respond to emergencies.

5. work hard to improve the level of supervision and law enforcement capabilities. All regions should solidly carry out special investigation and rectification 2023 actions for major accidents and hidden dangers in the industry and trade industry, and strengthen the study of professional knowledge such as the determination standards for major accidents, key law enforcement inspection items, and relevant laws, regulations and standards. It is necessary to carry out in-depth law enforcement inspections on the performance of the duties of the main persons in charge of the enterprise, and implement "one case and two penalties" for the enterprise and the main person in charge in accordance with the law if the hidden dangers of major accidents still exist or accidents occur due to ineffective investigation and rectification ". It is necessary to keep a close eye on the hidden dangers of major accidents found in the inspection of law enforcement, urge enterprises to resolutely rectify and put them in place, and it is strictly forbidden to take care of them with penalties and ignore them. It is necessary to pay equal attention to law enforcement and service, provide reasonable and effective rectification suggestions for enterprises, help enterprises solve safety problems and improve the level of safety production.

I hereby inform you.

Office of the State Council Work Safety Committee

July 7, 2023