Problems with warehousing supervision of dangerous goods

Warehousing of dangerous goods is an important part of the logistics industry. Its strong professionalism and high risk are its two most obvious characteristics. It is precisely because of this that the state's supervision of hazardous chemicals warehousing is much higher than other cargo storage. However, as a whole, China's hazardous chemicals warehousing supervision is still relatively confusing and there are many problems, and it is necessary to formulate effective countermeasures.

In recent years, with the rapid growth of China's economy, dangerous chemicals-related industries have also made considerable progress. Since the State Council promulgated and implemented the "Administrative Regulations on the Safety of Hazardous Chemicals," the safety of the production, storage, and transportation of dangerous goods has received increasing attention from companies and the society in various fields. At the same time, many problems concerning warehousing of dangerous goods have been revealed one after another. On the one hand, many cargo owners cannot find a suitable dangerous goods warehouse. On the other hand, many dangerous goods storage companies cannot be normal due to changes in urban development and outdated facilities. In business, there are many new investors who do not know that the construction of dangerous goods warehouses should comply with the relevant national safety regulations such as fire safety, and do not know the safety regulations, rules and regulations concerning the fire protection and other fire safety regulations that the dangerous goods warehouse management should comply with. These problems not only directly affect the sound development of dangerous goods-related industries, but also pose a major threat to people's lives and property safety, and have aroused widespread concern in the industry and industry organizations.

The shortage of huge dangerous goods storage facilities is in short supply, and a serious shortage of warehouses is a prominent issue in China's dangerous goods storage industry in recent years. In the "planning for the adjustment and revitalization of the logistics industry", it is clearly proposed to strengthen the construction of logistics infrastructure. However, as far as the actual situation is concerned, this problem has not improved since 2009, but the gap in the dangerous goods warehouse has continuously increased.

In addition to the high threshold for storage of dangerous chemicals, high risk, and difficulties in land acquisition and approval, there are many new factors: First, China’s petrochemical products increased by 13.9% year-on-year, but export volume decreased by 30% year-on-year, resulting in a large number of product backlogs in China. The increase in stocks has caused the warehouse to become increasingly scarce. The second is blind investment in some projects, and the structural overcapacity caused by the continuous expansion of production scale has caused a backlog of products and the warehouse is full. According to statistics from the Chemical Information Department, China has a surplus of soda ash exceeding 25%, a surplus of caustic soda exceeding 30%, a surplus of sulfuric acid exceeding 25%, a surplus of yellow phosphorus exceeding 60%, a surplus of methanol exceeding 50%, and a surplus of calcium carbide exceeding 30%. Third, the construction of dangerous goods warehouses is still struggling. The shortage of urban land is increasing and there is no place for dangerous goods warehouses.

Another obvious problem with dangerous goods storage is the extremely uneven distribution of the region. At present, China's southeast coast, the Yangtze River Delta, the Pearl River Delta, and the Bohai Bay area account for more than 70% of China's dangerous goods warehousing industry, while the central and western regions account for less than 30%, and are mostly distributed in large and medium-sized cities and energy production areas. In addition, the gap in the scale of China's dangerous goods storage companies is huge, with large companies having warehouses of tens of thousands of square meters, and small-scale enterprises having warehouses of only a few hundred square meters.

At present, the number of enterprises engaged in the storage and logistics of dangerous goods has decreased a lot. The most important reason is that the state has increased the safety rectification of the hazardous chemicals business units, some of the equipment is shabby, the environmental protection is not up to standard, the safety management is not standardized, and the geographical location Discomfortable warehousing companies are forced to close, stop, merge, and transfer. Although the number of dangerous goods warehousing companies has decreased, the storage area and storage capacity have not decreased, but have slightly increased. This shows that the concentration of dangerous goods warehouses in China is increasing.

The lack of standardization and standardized construction speed has seriously affected the speed of adjustment and development of the warehousing industry for hazardous chemicals. It is very urgent to unify the standards for the construction of dangerous goods storage facilities.

The first is the lack of storage standards for dangerous goods. For example, the procedural specifications for hazardous chemicals storage operations, stacking pad standards, technical parameters for warehouse construction, standards for storage security equipment and equipment, qualifications of employees, etc., have all been introduced lately, resulting in a lot of storage links “with no standards”. "Currently, companies are mostly implemented in accordance with relevant industry standards, but the standards of different industry segments are also very different, and localities are not uniform, which brings a lot of inconvenience to information communication and industry management."

The second is that some standards are out of date and aging, and inaccurate standards cannot be timely corrected and adjusted. According to regulations, relevant standards should be revised after implementation for 5 years. The current standards can be used for more than 10 years, and the standard distance from the advanced countries in the world is getting bigger and bigger and it is difficult to meet the standards.

Third, there are many applications for approval of new standards, complicated procedures, and low work efficiency, which may result in the industry’s urgently needed and concerned standards being unable to be issued in a timely manner.

Because some national standards for the development of the warehousing industry related to dangerous goods have not been introduced in time, Beijing and other places are actively compiling local standards and management standards applicable to the development of the industry, such as the “Code for the Construction and Safety Management of Dangerous Goods” and “Dangerous Goods”. Warehousing operations, etc. These local standards, based on the specific conditions and needs of the region, specify the conditions of management, facilities, varieties and quantities, risks, and affordability, making standards more scientific, practical, and advanced.

In addition, China lacks an industry information management and statistical management system. All data and information data are contained in large logistics and large chemical industries. It is very difficult to collect and retrieve hazardous chemicals storage information. "It is not a difficult task for the competent authority to authorize or commission an institution or association to take charge of this task."

In order to strengthen the safety management of hazardous chemicals, the State Council further clarified safety supervision, fire control, public security, quality inspection, environmental protection, transportation, and regulations in the Regulations on the Administration of Dangerous Goods Safety (Decree No. 344 of the State Council [2002]). The responsibilities of various administrative departments such as health and industry and commerce require the joint management of hazardous chemicals safety.

The representative of the China Storage Association, Jie Jie, said: "Strengthening management has always been a good thing, but in practice, many companies have a headache for this type of multi-headed supervision, self-administration, multiple levels, and complicated procedures. This has caused a great burden on enterprises. "The multi-sector supervision now greatly increases the company's management costs. "He gave an example:" The docks in the port area should be managed by the port department, but in fact the maritime department is also in charge. The maritime department mainly manages the order of maritime navigation and the safety of maritime traffic. However, for docks, they must also be inspected for safety reasons, and they must also be evaluated. In fact, the port department had already completed this inspection and assessment, but the same thing would have to be done by the maritime department again, thereby increasing the company's management costs. Each competent unit has its own set of standards and regulations. The things that companies must do are basically subject to approval. Businesses therefore also need to face a variety of assessments and meetings.

The multiple regulations and standards of multiple departments not only greatly increase the company's management costs, but also often make the company at a loss.

The person in charge of a company said: “The troubles of storage sites for hazardous chemicals are many. We built the warehouses according to the spacing required by the safety supervision department. The Bureau of Safety Supervision said that it is OK, but the land and resources department has said that it has wasted land resources.” A representative of a company also said: "The safety supervision department asked us to carry out an emergency drill in the storage area of ​​the Dangerous Goods Terminal, but during the drill, the foam liquid of the foam fire extinguisher could not be recovered. The local maritime department thought it would cause pollution to the water body, so The emergency drills have opposing attitudes. The previous request for the use of foam fire extinguishers was mainly aimed at the effectiveness of fire extinguishing. With the development of society, environmental protection has become more and more important. This emerging new issue really makes us at a loss."

It is understood that the formulation of China's industry safety standards is also responsible for different government departments. For example, the highest standard based on the approval of a company's construction project is based on this department, but two years later, when the project was completed, the updated standards of other departments came out again. However, sub-standards are not equal to illegal or infringement, but can only be based on different standards. “According to the different standards of different departments, if there is no spray device for the firefighting facilities of dangerous chemicals warehouses, foam fire extinguishers will be used. There are many types of foam fire extinguishers, so for enterprises, there is no BMW, and Xiali can do so. From a point of view, the gap between our country’s security standards system and Western developed countries is still very large, and there are still many gaps.

There are hidden dangers in the use of warehouses. At present, China's dangerous goods storage industry can reach an average of five to six security incidents per day, creating hidden concerns for the dangerous goods storage industry. In addition to the hardware facilities, the main reason is that the quality of employees is not high enough.

The low quality of first-line workers and the shortage of professionals are common problems in China's logistics industry. This problem is even more pronounced for the dangerous goods warehousing industry. Dangerous chemicals warehousing professionals have a bigger gap than dangerous goods warehouses, especially senior management personnel are extremely scarce. Some hazardous chemicals storage management personnel are not professional, and their business level, knowledge structure, and technical capabilities are difficult to adapt to the requirements of modern hazardous chemicals storage development.

At present, migrant workers in the jeopardy storage industry occupies 33.57% of migrant workers. Their expertise, product maintenance, and scientific management know little, and they can only engage in simple warehouse operations and loading and unloading operations.

Storage security risks increase. For hazardous chemicals warehousing companies, the safety risks posed by the nature of work are greater. This is mainly manifested in the following aspects: large quantities of hazardous chemicals are stored; there are many types of hazardous chemicals stored, and the physical and chemical properties of the items are highly variable; the mobility of foreign workers and vehicles is large, and the requirements for safety precautions for equipment are high; hazardous chemicals The general characteristics of the company determine that it can easily cause casualties, property damage, and environmental pollution during production, storage, transportation, use, and waste disposal.

Every dangerous chemical warehouse is a source of danger. Once a major safety accident such as a leak occurs, it will cause major harm to society, the environment, and the human body. Therefore, the safety management of the hazardous chemicals reservoir area is a top priority. Each company's development must meet the requirements of the society. Therefore, security is the foundation and guarantee for the development of the enterprise. Focusing on safety management is the need for the survival of the enterprise.

There are many reasons for the accident. There are many reasons leading to safety accidents in the dangerous chemicals reservoir area. To sum up, it can be summarized as follows: First, hazardous chemicals have the characteristics of being flammable, explosive, volatile, and easily diffused. Second, some companies' facilities and equipment are not simple or do not comply with safety regulations. Third, it is influenced by the natural environment and social conditions. Fourth, the safety management system and operating mechanism are not perfect, and the professional quality and safety awareness of management and operating personnel are not high. The reservoir area does not have a scientific and effective management system, and management personnel also lack relevant management knowledge. From management personnel to porters and temporary workers, they have not received any special knowledge training. As a result, hazardous chemicals of different natures in the reservoir area are arbitrarily mixed and eventually lead to explosions and fire accidents.

Overdue service for some equipment Currently, the fire resistance rating of China's hazardous chemicals warehouses is mostly one or two grades, accounting for about 80% of the total volume of warehouses; the vast majority of warehouses with fire resistance grades of three or four are in old ones, accounting for about 20 of the total warehouse volume. %, for the storage of relatively stable Category 2 and 3 hazardous chemicals. The old enterprises also have a certain number of primary and secondary warehouses, but most of them were built in the 1960s and 1970s. They were worn out due to long-term disrepair, but they are still in use. The warehouses of emerging hazardous chemicals warehousing companies are basically one or two grades. They are newly built in this century, are more in line with standards, and are equipped with complete safety facilities. In general, new dangerous goods warehouses must be equipped with automatic sprinkler devices and alarm devices for different fire extinguishing agents. However, most old companies' old warehouses do not have such conditions, so they are still using various types of fire extinguishing equipment and mainly use artificial fire extinguishing methods. The mechanized level of emerging hazardous chemicals warehousing companies is relatively high and the old ones are relatively low. Apart from their economic strength, warehouse types also have a certain impact on mechanized operations.

Rapid growth of underground warehouses. In recent years, underground warehouses with poor facilities and chaotic management have disrupted the market order and brought security risks to the society. According to the survey data, there are 2345 hazardous chemicals business units in Beijing, 231 production units, 589 units in use, and 2,100 varieties of operations, but only two hazardous chemicals warehouses have been approved by the regulatory authorities. Home, in addition to a number of companies in the vicinity of hazardous chemicals, the transfer of hazardous chemicals are stored in the underground warehouses of the community.

It is understood that with the rapid development of the chemical industry, the contradiction between the supply and demand of the dangerous chemicals storage market has become increasingly prominent. The warehousing capacity of regular hazardous chemicals warehousing companies licensed by government agencies cannot meet the needs of production companies. What is the reason for this? Industry experts believe there are three reasons. First, old hazardous chemicals warehouses are mostly located in urban areas or in the suburbs. Because of the surrounding environment, national policies and regulations restrict them, limit their storage varieties and storage capacity, and do not allow them to expand and develop. Some warehouses were forced to shut down, and some warehousing companies turned to commercial development of these urban warehouses. This makes the number of dangerous chemicals warehouses less and less. Beijing, Tianjin, Nanjing and other cities have this situation. Secondly, it is very difficult to establish new sites for hazardous chemicals warehouses and approvals for land use, which greatly reduces the enthusiasm of enterprises for building banks. Third, hazardous chemicals warehouses have high requirements for facilities and technologies, investment is relatively large, and investors are cautious. Therefore, the current speed of building hazardous chemicals warehouses is far slower than the speed at which old warehouses are shut down, and it is also lagging behind the pace of economic development.

Due to inadequate management, a number of underground warehouses have emerged in recent years. Their facilities are shabby and their management is chaotic. There is no guarantee of security. However, they have low costs and low charges, disrupt the market order, create unfair competition for legitimate warehousing companies, and bring a “time bomb” to the community.

According to industry sources, some underground warehouses are hidden in residential buildings. In the event of an accident, the consequences could be disastrous. At worst, it may only be a fire, and it may result in hazardous chemical explosives and toxic substances. A dangerous chemicals tanker can knock down a small building. The explosion of a fireworks warehouse is no less than an earthquake. The resulting casualties and property losses are even more difficult to estimate.

Suggestions and Countermeasures For the safety management of hazardous chemicals storage, we should do a good job in the following aspects.

First, it is imperative to organize the formulation of a unified national standard for dangerous goods warehouses and reservoir area planning and design parameters as soon as possible, and propose a design applicable to all types of warehouses for dangerous goods production enterprises, circulation enterprises and logistics companies. Parameters, and to solve the existing standards in the contradiction.

Second, we should establish a unified national permit system for storage and operation of dangerous goods by drawing on our experience in the production and operation of dangerous goods. The system should include the public warehousing business license system and the company's internal warehousing operation permit system, and with this system as a precondition, gradually implement the "concentrated storage, unified delivery" business model across the country.

Third, in the large and medium-sized cities as the unit, according to the nature, types, and supply chain characteristics of dangerous dangerous goods and life-threatening goods, two types of dangerous goods warehouse network construction plans are formulated. The storage facilities for dangerous goods with production should strictly control the number of warehouse areas and promote large-scale and centralization; the storage facilities for living dangerous goods such as paint, alcohol, and pyrogenic alkali should be based on the principle of convenient consumption and proper dispersion. Network planning.

Fourth, under the premise of uniform approval conditions, simplify the warehousing and approval procedures for dangerous goods, implement joint approvals from safety supervision, fire protection, and environmental protection departments; relocate old dangerous goods warehouses or build new large-scale dangerous goods storage facilities. The relevant departments should provide support in land acquisition and taxation.

Fifth, to investigate the use of dangerous goods storage resources and intermediary services, the operation and management of dangerous goods storage companies, the training and exchange of operational specifications, the promotion of new storage facilities and technologies for dangerous goods, and the training of personnel working in the storage of dangerous goods. positive effects.

Sixth, strengthen the construction of air defense and technical defense in the dangerous goods store area. In order to effectively control the occurrence of dangerous accidents and reduce the loss of life and property caused by accidents, it is necessary to strengthen the safety precautions for the dangerous chemicals storehouse area; with the help of modern security product technologies, early warning and safety accidents will be prevented. For example, a perimeter warning system is established around the dangerous goods storage area, and video surveillance systems are installed to achieve simultaneous linkage between systems. A strict entrance and exit control system is established at the entrances and exits of dangerous goods stores to prevent entry of outsiders; install appropriate security inspection equipment to prevent fires. The source was brought into the reservoir area.

At the same time, it uses the rfid technology to set up a tracking file system for the dangerous goods stored in the warehouse area, scans the bar code of the cargo space and material bar code through the wireless terminal, and inquires the inventory of materials in real time. In the system, it can randomly check the warehouse, area, and cargo space. It can be used for random inspection of specific categories, and can also make a comprehensive inventory of the entire system on a regular basis to generate a difference table, which facilitates the analysis and tracing of materials that are of low inventory accuracy, and dynamically analyzes and pays attention to some unused materials for a long time. caveat.

In addition, formulate a scientific safety management system and implement responsibilities to people; conduct regular inspections and inspections; and conduct regular safety education and training for employees. Only in this way can we make our warehousing industry less accidents and accidents. In addition, enterprises should also do a good job in safety assessment, formulate scientific and effective accident emergency rescue plans, and organize drills in due course; prepare materials and facilities for responding to accidents; and deal with accidents in an emergency according to the correct principles. In this way, the hazards of fire and explosion accidents can be effectively reduced and social stability can be maintained.