Procedural management of safety regulations and rules for the chemical industry

In recent years, the chemical companies in different countries have realized the significance of managing within safety regulations and rules. In China, investigation reports of major accidents showed that Chinese chemical companies often failed to comply with regulations before the accident. In fact, a majority of chemical companies are simultaneously regulated by different regulatory agencies. They must comply with an excess of safety regulations and standards promulgated by various regulatory agencies. A huge compliance burden for chemical companies is the result. To solve this problem, this article proposes a new classification method combining administrative ranks and scopes of chemical safety activities. This new classification helps chemical companies to identify and understand external regulations faster and more easily. A chemical industry park in Dalian was taken as an example to collect materials. It was found that there were 658 regulations and standards covering safety, environment and health. In addition, this article establishes a procedural framework for rules management that guides users of rules, which demonstrates the process of compliance management. It helps companies deal with situations where external regulations are absent or unreasonable. This article also suggests that regulators establish good communication with companies and increase the discretionary power of companies to promote the implementation of this framework. (c) 2018 American Institute of Chemical Engineers Process Saf Prog 38: e11999, 2019