Provisions on Fine Penalties for Work Safety Accidents

Provisions on Fine Penalties for Work Safety Accidents

Order of the Ministry of Emergency Management of the People's Republic of China

(No. 14)

The Provisions on Fine Penalties for Work Safety Accidents, as deliberated and adopted at the 32th executive meeting of the Ministry of Emergency Management on December 25, 2023, are hereby issued, and shall come into force on March 1, 2024.

Minister: Wang Xiangxi

January 10, 2024

Provisions on Fine Penalties for Work Safety Accidents

Article 1 For the purposes of preventing and reducing work safety accidents, strictly holding the entities where work safety accidents occur and the relevant liable persons legally liable and correctly applying the administrative penalty of a fine for an accident, these Provisions are developed in accordance with the Administrative Punishment Law of the People's Republic of China, the Work Safety Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulation on the Reporting, Investigation and Handling of Work Safety Accidents, and other provisions.

Article 2 These Provisions shall apply to the administrative penalties of fines imposed by emergency management departments and mine safety supervision institutions on entities where work safety accidents occur (hereinafter referred to as “accident entities”) and their primary persons in charge, other persons in charge, work safety management personnel and directly responsible person in charge, other directly liable persons, and other liable persons in accordance with the Work Safety Law of the People's Republic of China and the Regulation on the Reporting, Investigation and Handling of Work Safety Accidents.

Article 3 For the purpose of these Provisions, a “accident entity” means a production or business entity that is liable for the occurrence of an accident.

For the purpose of these Provisions, a “primary person in charge” means the chairman of the board of directors or general manager of a limited liability company or a joint stock limited company or the investor of an individual business, or the factory director, manager, or mine manager (including an actual controller) of any other production or business entity, or any other person.

Article 4 For the purpose of these Provisions, the “annual income in the last year of an accident entity's primary person in charge or any other person in charge, work safety management person or directly responsible person in charge, or any other directly liable person means the total annual income in the last year as determined by the competent superior authority of the entity if the entity is a state-owned production or business entity; or means the total annual income in the last year as assessed by the financial or taxation authority if the entity is not a state-owned production or business entity.

Where it is difficult to determine a relevant person's annual income in the previous year because the production or business entity provides false materials or the financial or taxation authority cannot conduct assessment or for any other reason, the annual income shall be determined as follows:

(1) The annual income of the primary person in charge in the previous year shall be calculated as not less than five times nor more than ten times the previous year's average wage of employees of urban entities in the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government.

(2) The annual income of any other person in charge, a work safety management person or a directly responsible person in charge, or any other directly liable person in the previous year shall be calculated as not less than one time nor more than five times the previous year's average wage of employees of urban entities in the province, autonomous region, or municipality directly under the Central Government.

Article 5 For the purpose of the Regulation on the Reporting, Investigation and Handling of Work Safety Accidents, “delay in reporting, omission of information in reporting, false reporting, or concealment in reporting” shall be determined according to the following circumstances:

(1) “Delay in reporting” means that an accident fails to be reported within a prescribed time limit.

(2) “Omission of information in reporting” means that an accident that shall be reported or the content such as time or place of occurrence, category, number of casualties, or direct economic losses of an accident is omitted and not reported as a result of negligence.

(3) “False reporting” means that the time, place, preliminary cause, nature, number of casualties or number of people affected, or direct economic losses of the accident or other relevant content is not faithfully reported on purpose.

(4) “Concealment in reporting” means that an accident that has occurred is concealed, and no report is made to the emergency management department, mine safety supervision institution and relevant departments within a prescribed time limit, which have been verified.

Article 6 The imposition of administrative penalties of fines on an accident entity and its relevant liable persons shall be decided in accordance with the following provisions:

(1) The imposition of administrative penalties of fines on an entity where an especially serious accident occurs and on its relevant liable persons shall be decided by the Ministry of Emergency Management.

(2) The imposition of administrative penalties of fines on an entity where a serious accident occurs and on its relevant liable persons shall be decided by the emergency management department of the provincial people's government.

(3) The imposition of administrative penalties of fines on an entity where a relatively serious accident occurs and on its relevant liable persons shall be decided by the emergency management department of the people's government at the districted city level.

(4) The imposition of administrative penalties of fines on an entity where an ordinary accident occurs and on its relevant liable persons shall be decided by the emergency management department of the people's government at the county level.

An emergency management department may designate the emergency management department at the next lower level to impose administrative penalties on an accident entity and its relevant liable persons.

Article 7 The imposition of administrative penalties of fines on a coal mine accident entity and its relevant liable persons shall be governed by the following provisions:

(1) The imposition of administrative penalties of fines on a coal mine where an especially serious accident occurs and on its relevant liable persons shall be decided by the National Mine Safety Administration.

(2) The imposition of administrative penalties of fines on a coal mine where a serious, relatively serious, or ordinary accident occurs and on its relevant liable persons shall be decided by the provincial bureau of the National Mine Safety Administration.

A mine safety supervision institution may designate the mine safety supervision institution at the next lower level to impose administrative penalties on an accident entity and its relevant liable persons.

Article 8 Where, for an accident below the leve......