The short answer: a safe environment, training, and protective equipment — an employer's statutory responsibility. Workplace health and safety in China is governed by several statutes, with enforcement clearly tightening; accidents now carry heavy penalties and reputational damage.
Legal basis
- The Work Safety Law: employers must establish a safety responsibility system, ensure safety investment, and run safety training; special-operation staff must be certified (Article 30).
- The Occupational Disease Prevention Law: employers must adopt prevention measures, provide protective facilities and equipment, and arrange pre-, during-, and post-employment health checks (Article 35).
- Chapter 6 of the Labor Law: occupational safety and health requirements.
Key points
- Provide a safe working environment and implement the safety responsibility system.
- Run regular safety training, especially for new and transferred employees.
- Supply necessary protective equipment and personal protective gear.
- For roles with occupational hazards, conduct detection, notification, and protection.
Practical tips
- Keep safety ledgers and an accident-reporting mechanism, and retain training records.
- For roles with occupational hazards, arrange pre-, during-, and post-employment health checks.
- Outsourced and dispatched workers also require safety responsibility — it cannot be shifted.
Note for foreign employers
- Special-operation staff must be certified; report accidents within the required time — no cover-ups.
Note for foreign employers
- Run periodic hazard inspections and keep rectification records.
After high-profile industrial accidents, the government has clearly tightened rules and enforcement — health and safety is now both a legal and a reputational priority. Need occupational health and safety compliance support? Contact CRBPO.
About CRBPO
Founded in 2003, CRBPO (中瑞岳华) is a professional HR service provider with 20+ years in the China market, offering executive search, RPO recruitment, staffing & dispatch, global EOR, tax & accounting, and monthly HR subscription — across 30+ cities — to help foreign companies run compliant, efficient operations in China.
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