Beijing : China will launch a nationwide inspection of businesses engaged in dangerous chemicals and explosives in the aftermath of the deadly explosions in Tianjin. In an emergency notice, the Work Safety Commission of China’s cabinet said the Wednesday blasts at the warehouse storing dangerous chemicals revealed a lack of safety awareness among businesses and lax implementation of safety regulations.
Other problems exposed by the blasts include inadequate safety management of dangerous materials at ports, irregular practices among workers, weak emergency responses to incidents and lax supervision by authorities, state-run Xinhua news agency reported. The commission said lessons learned from the blasts are “extremely profound”.
It asked governments at all levels strictly control the access threshold for industrial projects dealing with these materials, and firmly implement regulatory measures for highly toxic chemicals such as cyanide, as well as inflammable and explosive materials.
The warehouse blasts on late Wednesday night, killed at least 56 people, including 21 firefighters. A total of 721 were injured, with 33 of them still in critical condition. The cause of the blasts is being
investigated.
The warehouse was owned by Tianjin Dongjiang Port Rui Hai International Logistics Co. Ltd., which was founded in 2011. It is a storage and distribution centre for containers of dangerous goods.
Meanwhile, Over 1,000 firefighters aided by military experts trained in nuclear and biological warfare today battled to put out flares emitting toxic fumes in north China as two fresh explosions struck this major port city after two massive blasts killed at least 56 people. Fires are still burning at the site of the two massive explosions some 36 hours after the blasts as another 6,200 people were evacuated to prevent further casualties. Around 10,000 people were evacuated after the Wednesday blasts in a warehouse storing hazardous chemicals that sent fireballs, cars and containers shooting in the sky. The rumours spread amid reports that hazardous substances have been detected from two drainage outlets near the blast site in Binhai New Area. Chemical oxygen demand (COD) and cyanide have been detected in the underground pipelines of blocked discharge outlets in the area affected by the Tianjin explosion, state- run china.org.cn reported citing the Ministry of Environmental Protectio.
