As holiday travel surges and some companies rush to meet production deadlines or concentrate equipment maintenance, various safety hazards become intertwined and amplified. The more we celebrate family reunions, the tighter the grip on workplace safety must remain. To prevent safety risks and safeguard a peaceful holiday for all, this safety advisory deserves careful attention.
Learning from Past Incidents, Keeping the Alarm Ringing
A full moon and family togetherness are beautiful, but safety is the truest holiday blessing. Risk tends to peak around holidays: the pre-holiday scramble to finish work, the gaps in duty coverage during the break, and the lack of preparation for post-holiday resumption. Any lapse in these phases can trigger an accident.
On September 14, 2023, just before the Mid-Autumn Festival, Shanghai Hanbang Lianhang Laser Technology Co., Ltd. rushed to perform equipment maintenance before the holiday. While replacing the filter cartridge in a purification box that had accumulated large amounts of aluminum-magnesium alloy dust, workers failed to wear the required personal protective equipment and illegally added water to moisten the aluminum-magnesium dust filter. The fine metallic powder reacted with water, releasing heat and hydrogen, which ignited an explosion in the medium-efficiency purification box. The accident killed three people and seriously injured one, with direct economic losses of approximately 5.947 million yuan.
Warning: When performing concentrated maintenance before a holiday, never cut corners on procedures or weaken hazard identification just to meet a deadline. Do not treat high-risk maintenance like filter replacement as simple cleaning. Aluminum and magnesium active metal dust must never be handled with water spray. High-risk operations require dedicated plans, operational approvals, and on-site supervision. Resolutely eliminate reckless work under time pressure.
On October 1, 2025, Inner Mongolia Yili Chemical Industry Co., Ltd. arranged for an external contractor to perform acid cleaning on equipment. The reaction between hydrochloric acid and pipeline scale generated hydrogen sulfide and phosphine, which are highly toxic gases that accumulated, killing two workers from poisoning. Rescuers who blindly attempted rescue also suffered poisoning. The company knowingly violated the principle of prohibiting high-risk maintenance during holidays, and after the incident, it concealed the report. Duty management was essentially nonexistent.
Warning: Holidays are not a "vacancy period" for safety management, nor a "window of opportunity" for illegal operations. All industrial and trade enterprises in the city must draw deep lessons from these accidents, firmly shoulder safety responsibilities, and implement every preventive measure.
Double Festival Protection, Safety to the Core
The Municipal Safety Committee Office has formulated a "Key Work List for Safety Prevention During the Mid-Autumn and National Day Holidays." The Municipal Emergency Management Bureau will further refine special inspection plans, implement control measures, tighten post responsibilities, and improve emergency mechanisms. The goal is clear risk data, transparent hazard ledgers, and solid prevention actions.
For enterprises operating normally during the holiday: Supervise the implementation of leader-led inspections and dedicated personnel patrols. In principle, high-risk operations such as hot work and confined space entry should not be scheduled. If operations are truly necessary, they must all undergo upgraded approval procedures.
For enterprises that have stopped production: Strictly implement shutdown plans and strengthen duty patrols. Resumption of work must strictly follow the "six requirements" item by item.
Comprehensively inspect "triple-use" premises (production, storage, and living in one building) in labor-intensive enterprises. Focus on fire protection facilities and ignition source management. Clear existing hazards to zero and dynamically eliminate new ones.
Strengthen safety supervision of fireworks and firecracker wholesale enterprises. Implement monitoring and early warning, video surveillance, and special warehouse inspections. Promote "separation of people and goods" at retail points and integrate AI monitoring.
Complete safety inspections and owner self-checks of high-risk "red, orange, yellow" public venues by the end of September.
Safety Reminders You Must Remember
Recognize Three Types of Risks, Keep Mental Defenses Tight
Be wary of "abnormal production" risks. Equipment idled during holidays is prone to moisture, corrosion, or malfunction after long downtime. At resumption, temporary electricity use, hot work, maintenance, and confined space cleaning surge, significantly raising safety risks.
Be wary of "continuous production" fatigue risks. Enterprises like steel manufacturers cannot halt operations. Employees working long stretches without returning home face psychological strain, leading to carelessness and operational errors.
Be wary of "management gap" risks. Pre-holiday rushing increases worker loads. During the holiday, absent managers create oversight voids. After the holiday, lingering relaxation can cause safety management to slip.
Five Key Areas Demand Vigilance, Hazard Inspections Must Not Fall Short
Metal smelting: Focus on inspecting high-temperature molten metal equipment and gas pipelines. Ensure cooling water systems and monitoring alarms operate normally. Prevent molten metal-water explosions and gas leak poisoning.
Hazardous chemicals: Strictly enforce warehousing and usage procedures. Strengthen static electricity protection. Prohibit overstocking and illegal repackaging. Prevent fire and explosion from cross-operations like hot work.
Combustible dust: Clean dust from work areas and collection systems promptly. Implement waterproof and moisture-proof measures for aluminum and magnesium metal dust. Prohibit "dry operation" of wet dust collectors.
Labor-intensive settings: Keep evacuation routes and exits unobstructed. Prohibit illegal occupancy and unauthorized electric bicycle parking and charging. Strengthen night patrols.
Confined spaces: Strictly follow the rule of "ventilate first, test second, work third." For confined spaces prone to poisoning, implement isolation measures such as locking and tagging. Entry without approval is forbidden. Supervisors and emergency rescue equipment must be on site. Blind rescue attempts are strictly prohibited.
Be Present, Be Accountable, Be Safe
Principal leaders of enterprises must be on duty during the holiday. For enterprises operating normally, safety technology and management personnel must remain at their posts to ensure no gaps in safety management.
Strictly implement the system of leaders leading shifts and 24-hour duty coverage at critical positions. Maintain open communication channels. Eliminate absenteeism and duty lapses.
Establish a dynamic hazard handling mechanism. Address general hazards immediately. Shut down production and report major hazards without delay. In emergencies, activate plans promptly, handle situations scientifically, and report on time. Never delay, omit, or conceal reports.
Home is the smallest unit of the nation, and the nation is composed of countless homes. During this double celebration, workplace safety is the greatest care for employees and a social responsibility enterprises must uphold. Take firm ownership of safety responsibilities, watch every critical link, and implement every preventive measure. Together, let us build a solid safety defense line and protect every family's peace and reunion.
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