The explosion in Tianjin, China that has now been attributed to the deaths of 161 people, has been the center of controversy and investigation for close to a month. Blatant disregard for chemical safety regulations and the factory where the chemicals were stored was far too close to residential areas.
The Need for Efficient Chemical Management Protocols
These are some of the concerns that the citizens of the port city are voicing. The Chinese government had assessed that there was a need for a more competent way of addressing the oversight of hazardous chemicals at the local level.
Local governments subject to such oversights have been slow to act and they have not been met with many repercussions for not complying. According to the head of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, plans to either relocate or upgrade close to 1,000 chemical plants have been sluggish. This is due to the fact that the Ministry’s efforts are “not actively supported locally in the past year,” illustrating the dire and disorderly nature of the situation.
As citizens of Tianjin become more concerned and the Chinese government struggles to gain control of the situation, the need for responsible and effective chemical management protocols are becoming more apparent. The companies that have been responsible for the oversight of their own facilities are quickly realizing that they need to make greater strides to take charge of the situation, lest they suffer another disaster and public scrutiny.
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