China SAWS Publishes Its Order 57 - The Measures for The Administration of Safe Use Permit for Hazardous Chemicals

Original Article by CIRS

27 Nov 2012, The State Administration of Work Safety(SAWS) of China publishes its order 57 - the measures for the administration of safe use permit for hazardous chemicals, one of the supporting measures of decree 591. The new measures require companies who use hazardous chemicals to manufacture products in China (excluding manufacturers of hazardous chemicals and companies who use hazardous chemicals as fuel) to obtain a safe use permit from the administrative department of work safety at city level when:

  • The industry sector of the company is listed in the Catalog of Applicable Industry Sector for the Safe Use Permit of Hazardous Chemicals (for example, production of fertilizer); and
  • The used quantity has reached the threshold volume stipulated by the standard usage quantity of hazardous chemicals (for example, for chlorine, the threshold value is 180t/y). So far, the threshold value has been set for 62 priority hazardous chemicals.

The requirements for application of safe use permit are listed below:

  • application form for safe use permit;
  • safety management system and safety operation procedure;
  • full-time EHS staff;
  • qualifications of safety responsible person and EHS staff;
  • emergency response plan in case of accident;
  • safety data sheet provided by suppliers;
  • copy of business license;
  • safety evaluation report by third party;
  • copy of evaluation report of a new chemical plant;
  • list of emergency response personnel, equipments and facilities.

 

The validity of safe use permit is 3 years. The measures will come into force from 1st May 2013.

Reference

CIRS's Comments

One of the main reasons why regulations on safe management of hazardous chemicals was revised in 2011(known as decree 591) is that downstream users of hazardous chemicals were not regulated under the old regulations on safe management of hazardous chemicals.

Companies who use hazardous chemicals to manufacture products shall check its industry sector & use quantity of hazardous chemicals first to determine whether a safe use permit is required according to this order. If you would like to find out whether your business is affected by this measures, please contact:

  • Mr. Eric Xiong, China Office
    11F Building 1, Dongguan Hi-Tech Park, 1288 Chunbo Road, Binjiang District, Hangzhou 310052, China
    Tel: +86-571 8720 6555 | Fax: +86-571 8720 6533
    Email: eric.xiong@cirs-reach.com