Ministry refines safety measures ahead of Spring Festival holiday

China's Ministry of Emergency Management further refined safety measures on Friday for the period before and after the Spring Festival holiday, urging relevant authorities to "draw hard lessons" from recent incidents and spare no effort to prevent major and extraordinarily serious accidents and disasters.

The ministry stated this at a meeting held on Friday morning and chaired by Vice-Minister of Emergency Management Xu Jia'ai, according to a news release.

The release said the national safety situation has been "severe and complicated" so far this year, citing a string of recent incidents, including an explosion at Baogang United Steel in Baotou, Inner Mongolia autonomous region, a fire at a nursing home in Heilongjiang province, and a bridge collapse in Jiangsu province.

Those incidents have exposed prominent problems in some local regions and enterprises, it said, noting that the problems included inadequate efforts to crack down on illegal activities, reckless operations that disregard safety, as well as delayed reporting and cover-ups of incidents.

The ministry noted that this year's Spring Festival holiday, which runs from Feb 15 to 23, is longer, and public demand for travel and tourism will be stronger. Passenger flows are expected to peak in sectors such as transportation, catering and entertainment, and hotels and other accommodation services.

At the same time, risks related to snow and freezing weather, forest fires, and geological disasters are rising, and overall safety risks are expected to increase markedly, the release said.

The ministry stressed that relevant departments should conduct in-depth analysis and assessment of safety risks in their regions and sectors, thoroughly identify and address potential hazards, and eliminate risks before they develop into disasters.

It also called for tighter fire-safety management at crowded venues, including shopping malls and markets, hotels and restaurants, high-rise buildings, hospitals, and nursing institutions.

The ministry also emphasized safety during the Spring Festival travel rush, urging strengthened oversight of high-capacity passenger transport.