Recently, the National Railway Administration issued a notice on the "Criteria for Determining Major Accident Hazards in Production Safety of Railway Construction Projects" (hereinafter referred to as the "Criteria"). The Criteria sets out detailed provisions on circumstances involving construction management, tunnel engineering, bridge and culvert engineering, and other aspects of railway construction project production that may be determined as major accident hazards. The notice states that railway regulatory authorities will take the Criteria as an important basis for law enforcement, intensify enforcement inspections in accordance with relevant document requirements, urge participating construction units to investigate and rectify major accident hazards, implement production safety responsibilities, and ensure safe and high-quality railway engineering construction.

The Criteria applies to determining major accident hazards in production safety of new-build and reconstruction railway construction projects. "Major accident hazards" as referred to herein means production safety accident hazards existing in the course of railway construction project construction that are of relatively high hazard severity and may cause mass casualties or major economic losses.

In construction management, the circumstances that shall be determined as major accident hazards involve seven items in total.For example: where the principal responsible person of a construction, supervision, or survey and design unit project is absent from post for more than 30 days or has not substantively carried out work; where dangerous operations such as blasting, hoisting, confined space operations, and hot work in crowded places are not staffed with dedicated personnel for on-site safety management or do not fulfill operation approval procedures as required; and where trucks or scrapped passenger vehicles are used to carry persons within the site area, all shall be determined as major accident hazards.

In tunnel engineering, the circumstances that shall be determined as major accident hazards involve nine items in total.For example: unauthorized changes to the excavation method; initial support not promptly closed into a ring; the length of a single invert excavation exceeding the specified value; safety step distance exceeding requirements; tunnel working faces not equipped with alarm and communication devices; in tunnels with toxic and harmful gases such as gas, construction without installation of toxic and harmful gas monitoring and alarm devices, or continuing operations in violation of regulations after monitoring alarms; and in gas tunnels, construction without use of explosion-proof electrical equipment and explosion-proof working machinery, etc.

In bridge and culvert engineering, the circumstances that shall be determined as major accident hazards involve three items in total.For example: during construction of high piers of 8 m or more (inclusive), where template reinforcement and concrete pouring speed do not meet the requirements of the special construction scheme, etc.

In addition, the Criteria also provides that for foundation pits with complex geological conditions, surrounding environment, and underground pipelines, or foundation pits with an excavation depth exceeding 5 m (inclusive), where earthwork excavation, support, dewatering construction, and deformation monitoring are not implemented in accordance with the approved special construction scheme, or where abnormal changes in foundation pit monitoring deformation data are not addressed with effective measures, they shall be determined as major accident hazards; the use of obsolete processes and equipment, as well as other serious violations of laws, regulations, rules, and mandatory standards on production safety in railway construction projects that present a real danger of relatively high hazard severity and may cause mass casualties or major economic losses, shall be determined as major accident hazards.

Original text of the notice:

Notice of the National Railway Administration on Issuing the "Criteria for Determining Major Accident Hazards in Production Safety of Railway Construction Projects"
Guo Tie Gong Cheng Jian Gui [2023] No. 25

To the general offices of the people's governments of all provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities directly under the Central Government; China State Railway Group, National Energy Investment Group, China State Construction, China Railway Signal & Communication, China Railway Group, China Railway Construction Corporation, China Communications Construction Company, and Power Construction Corporation of China; all subordinate units of the Administration; and all departments of the headquarters:

The "Criteria for Determining Major Accident Hazards in Production Safety of Railway Construction Projects" (hereinafter referred to as the Criteria) is hereby issued to you, and please comply with it in implementation.

All participating construction units in railway construction projects shall strictly implement the principal responsibility for investigation and governance of major accident hazards, conduct comprehensive investigation, accurate determination, timely reporting, and thorough rectification of all types of major accident hazards in accordance with the Criteria, prevent and resolve major risks in the process of railway engineering construction, and hold fast to the bottom line of production safety. Railway regulatory authorities shall actively publicize and implement the Criteria, take the Criteria as an important basis for law enforcement, intensify enforcement inspections in accordance with relevant document requirements, urge participating construction units to investigate and rectify major accident hazards, implement production safety responsibilities, and ensure safe and high-quality railway engineering construction.

National Railway Administration
September 29, 2023

Criteria for Determining Major Accident Hazards in Production Safety of Railway Construction Projects

Article 1 In order to scientifically determine major accident hazards in production safety of railway construction projects, continuously improve the hierarchical control of safety risks and the investigation and governance of hazards in railway construction projects, effectively prevent and contain the occurrence of major and extraordinarily serious accidents, and promote high-quality development of railway construction, this Criteria is formulated in accordance with the Work Safety Law of the People's Republic of China, the Regulations on Railway Safety Management, the Regulations on the Administration of Production Safety in Construction Projects, and other laws and regulations.

Article 2 This Criteria applies to determining major accident hazards in production safety of new-build and reconstruction railway construction projects.

Article 3 "Major accident hazards" as referred to in this Criteria means production safety accident hazards existing in the course of railway construction project construction that are of relatively high hazard severity and may cause mass casualties or major economic losses.

Article 4 Where any of the following circumstances exists in construction management, it shall be determined as a major accident hazard:

(1) The specialized subcontractor has no corresponding qualification or has not obtained a production safety license;

(2) The principal responsible person of a construction, supervision, or survey and design unit project is absent from post for more than 30 days or has not substantively carried out work;

(3) For projects with relatively high risk, a special construction scheme has not been prepared and approved as required, or for projects with relatively high risk exceeding a certain scale, expert demonstration and review have not been carried out as required;

(4) For dangerous operations such as blasting, hoisting, confined space operations, and hot work in crowded places, no dedicated personnel are arranged for on-site safety management or operation approval procedures are not fulfilled as required;

(5) Special operation personnel have not obtained qualification certificates in accordance with law; special equipment is put into use without obtaining a use registration certificate;

(6) The site selection of production and living areas has not undergone survey and safety assessment;

(7) Trucks or scrapped passenger vehicles are used to carry persons within the site area.

Article 5 Where any of the following circumstances exists in tunnel engineering, it shall be determined as a major accident hazard:

(1) At tunnel portals, high and steep side and face slopes are not excavated and reinforced for protection according to design requirements, and slope deformation is not monitored as required, with deformation exceeding specified values;

(2) Advanced geological forecasting and surrounding rock monitoring and measurement are not carried out as required; where advanced geological forecasting conclusions are inconsistent with the design, and monitoring and measurement data show abnormal changes, and no measures are taken to address them;

(3) Unauthorized changes to the excavation method; initial support not promptly closed into a ring; the length of a single invert excavation exceeding the specified value; safety step distance exceeding requirements; tunnel working faces not equipped with alarm and communication devices;

(4) For reverse-slope drainage tunnels and inclined shafts, the pumping and drainage capacity is less than the designed water inflow; emergency backup power sources and pumping and drainage equipment are not configured;

(5) In tunnels with toxic and harmful gases such as gas, construction without installation of toxic and harmful gas monitoring and alarm devices, or continuing operations in violation of regulations after monitoring alarms; in gas tunnels, construction without use of explosion-proof electrical equipment and explosion-proof working machinery;

(6) In construction in karst and water-rich broken surrounding rock sections, pressure relief or pre-reinforcement measures are not completed according to design before excavation;

(7) Where the working face experiences sudden mud outbursts, water inflow, sand inflow, or local collapse, and the support structure is distorted or cracked with a continuously increasing trend, and personnel are not evacuated in a timely manner;

(8) After a geological disaster affecting engineering quality and construction safety occurs in a complex-geology tunnel, design strengthening measures are not taken;

(9) For diesel locomotives, self-propelled rolling equipment, and diesel power generation equipment operating in tunnels, carbon monoxide and other toxic and harmful gas monitoring and alarm devices are not installed.

Article 6 Where any of the following circumstances exists in bridge and culvert engineering, it shall be determined as a major accident hazard:

(1) Overwater working platforms, cofferdams, open caissons, etc. have not undergone special design or are not constructed according to design, and the actual water level during construction is higher than the designed maximum water level; where cofferdams or open caissons exhibit water leakage, sand boiling and water inflow, or structural deformation, and effective measures are not taken in a timely manner;

(2) During construction of high piers of 8 m or more (inclusive), template reinforcement and concrete pouring speed do not meet the requirements of the special construction scheme;

(3) Non-standard equipment and facilities such as cast-in-place beam supports, movable formwork, and hanging baskets have not undergone special design, have not been verified through on-site tests such as pre-loading and trial lifting before being put into use, or are not dismantled according to the scheme; the bearing capacity of the support foundation is insufficient.

Article 7 For foundation pits with complex geological conditions, surrounding environment, and underground pipelines, or foundation pits with an excavation depth exceeding 5 m (inclusive), where earthwork excavation, support, dewatering construction, and deformation monitoring are not implemented in accordance with the approved special construction scheme, or where abnormal changes in foundation pit monitoring deformation data are not addressed with effective measures, they shall be determined as major accident hazards.

Article 8 The use of obsolete processes and equipment, as well as other serious violations of laws, regulations, rules, and mandatory standards on production safety in railway construction projects that present a real danger of relatively high hazard severity and may cause mass casualties or major economic losses, shall be determined as major accident hazards.

Article 9 The determination of major accident hazards in production safety for railway station building projects shall follow the relevant provisions of the "Criteria for Determining Major Accident Hazards in Production Safety of Building and Municipal Engineering."

Article 10 This Criteria shall be interpreted by the National Railway Administration.

Article 11 This Criteria shall come into force on the date of issuance.