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Some accidents happened because enterprises did not fulfill their due duties. What measures has the MEM taken to make sure enterprises perform their duties as the major body of accountability for workplace safety? Thank you.

Song Yuanming:

Thank you for your question. Enterprises are the last and most important link of the responsibility chain for workplace safety. Either the leadership responsibilities of local governments and Party committees or the oversight responsibilities of competent departments will ultimately be reflected in enterprises' fulfilling their primary responsibilities. General Secretary Xi Jinping once said that whether or not to take concrete and serious measures will make a difference in terms of workplace safety. The general guideline for the work of the MEM is to pinpoint problems and conduct effective supervision.

As for pinpointing problems, we mainly adopt measures to address the weak points of enterprises' production factors and to improve the four factors' overall quality. 

First, improving personnel quality. Together with the Ministry of Human Resources, we launched an action plan to improve the safety skills of staff in high-risk industries. One of the 15 hard measures issued by the Workplace Safety Committee of the State Council is to strengthen safety management in the fields of labor dispatch and flexible employment. We also launched a strike on training programs held just for show and cooperated with the Ministry of Public Security on a counterfeit certificate crackdown.

Second, improving enterprises' technical equipment. We regularly issue a list of outdated technical equipment and technology that should be phased out, and encourage traditional enterprises to be digitalized and smart. Take the coal industry, one of the traditional industries, for example: its smart transformation has been quite successful. Meanwhile, enterprises will also receive severe punishments for a lack of safety investment.

Third, improving enterprises' safety management. We ask enterprises to establish special safety management teams and optimize relevant regulations. We also help them to build an advanced, standardized management system to ensure workplace safety. Management practices that violate the law, such as subcontract and affiliate or lending qualifications, will be punished.

Fourth, improving safety awareness of business leaders who play a critical role. It is stipulated by the law that the legal representatives and actual controllers of enterprises are the "first to be held accountable" for workplace safety. They must fulfill the seven responsibilities specified in the Law on Workplace Safety. The theme of this year's "Workplace Safety Month" is abiding by the Law on Workplace Safety and fulfilling the responsibilities of the "first to be held accountable," which is also one of the 15 hard measures adopted by the Workplace Safety Committee of the State Council. 

As for effective supervision, we have been following the regularity that the precision and intensity of safety supervision is proportionate to how enterprises fulfill their primary responsibilities in this respect. That's to say, the more precise and more intense the supervision is, the better enterprises implement their responsibilities. Otherwise, it would be totally the opposite. 

To achieve effective supervision, we have been committed to the following three aspects: First, being committed to precise supervision. We have been targeting the major risks of key enterprises in key industries and objecting to bluff or one-size-fits-all supervision. Second, being committed to strict and standard law enforcement. We have employed the methods of investigation, tip-off, exposure to the public, law enforcement, accountability, admonition, notification, and supervision, as well as warning education. We are also resolutely against loose or non-standard law enforcement. Third, being committed to enthusiastic services. We have been providing on-site expertise service, offering assistance to key regions, and rallying central financial support. Through government service procurement, we have launched a campaign to promote workplace safety standardization, and enterprises that meet the standards will receive positive incentives, boosting their personnel's sense of dignity, accomplishment, and happiness. 

In the future, the MEM will continue its efforts to supervise enterprises' fulfilling their primary responsibilities and provide high-quality safety services for their high-quality development. Thank you.

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