Lessons Learned From Major Environmental Accidents and Regulations on Hazard Control in China

Abstract

China is suffering from severe environmental accidents that many have catastrophic impacts on public health and the environment. It is urgent to update the standards for environmental accidents prevention in China. This paper analyses the causes of fifty-three major accidents that happened in 2008 to obtain insight to help prevent similar events in the future. The results show that production accidents, which were mainly triggered by process analysis, training and human error, were the dominant causes of environmental accidents in China. In addition, current regulations on the control of environmental accident hazards and their implementation are also presented in this paper, which comprise legal requirements centering on hazardous chemicals, industrial safety evaluation, risk analysis and preparation of emergency plans. Based on our analysis, some key points that should be developed in future environmental accident hazard control measures are put forward with the aim of shedding light on decision making and risk management in China.