To the Housing and Urban–Rural Development Departments of all provinces and autonomous regions, the Housing and Urban–Rural Development (Management) Commissions of directly administered municipalities, the Beijing Municipal Commission of City Management, the Shanghai Municipal Transportation Commission, the Housing and Urban–Rural Development Bureau of the Xinjiang Production and Construction Corps, and the Shandong Provincial Department of Transport:

The “Criteria for Determining Major Safety Hazards in Housing and Municipal Engineering Projects (2024 Edition)” is hereby issued to you. Please ensure its thorough implementation.

Ministry of Housing and Urban-Rural Development

December 13, 2024

(This document is publicly released.)

Article 1: In order to accurately identify and promptly eliminate major safety hazards in housing construction and municipal infrastructure projects (hereinafter referred to as “housing and municipal engineering”), and to effectively prevent and curb accidents resulting in mass casualties, this standard is formulated in accordance with the Building Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Work Safety Law of the People’s Republic of China, the Regulations on the Administration of Work Safety for Construction Projects, and other relevant laws and administrative regulations.

Article 2: For the purposes of this Standard, a major accident hazard refers to a potential safety hazard in housing and municipal engineering construction that poses a significant degree of risk and may result in mass casualties or substantial economic losses.

Article 3 This standard applies to the identification of major production safety hazards in municipal engineering projects involving the construction, expansion, reconstruction, or demolition of buildings.

The housing and urban–rural development authorities of people’s governments at or above the county level, together with construction safety supervision agencies, may, during inspection and oversight, determine whether a major production safety hazard exists in housing and municipal engineering projects in accordance with this standard.

Article 4: Construction safety management shall be deemed to present a major accident hazard if any of the following circumstances exists:

(1) Construction enterprises engage in construction activities without obtaining a safety production license, or undertake projects beyond their qualification level or without the requisite qualifications;

(2) Construction enterprises fail to allocate a sufficient number of safety production management personnel as required, or their principal persons in charge, project managers, and full-time safety production management personnel engage in related work without holding valid certificates of passing the safety production assessment.

(3) Specialized construction workers have commenced work without holding a valid special operations qualification certificate.

(4) Where a specialized construction plan has not been prepared or reviewed for high-risk sub-projects and operations, or where the specialized construction plan contains serious deficiencies, or where expert appraisal of such plans—covering “sub-projects and operations exceeding a certain scale and posing significant risks”—has not been organized in accordance with applicable regulations;

(5) For sub-projects and partial works that, in accordance with regulations, require acceptance inspection, no subsequent process shall be initiated or the work shall not be put into use until it has passed such inspection.

Article 5: Excavation and slope engineering shall be deemed to present a major accident hazard if any of the following circumstances exist:

(1) Failure to implement specific protective measures for adjacent buildings, structures, and underground pipelines that may be damaged as a result of excavation or slope‑construction works;

(2) Excavation of foundation pits and slopes has exceeded the design dimensions, and no effective measures have been implemented.

(3) No third-party monitoring was conducted for the construction of deep excavations and high slopes (Class I and Class II).

(4) One of the following precursors of excavation or slope collapse is present, and it has not been addressed in a timely manner:

1. The deformation of the support structure or adjacent buildings exceeds the design‑specified deformation limit.

2. Significant water leakage and soil piping have occurred on the excavation side walls;

3. Piping or sudden water inflow occurs at the bottom of the excavation;

4. The depth of voids caused by soil erosion between piles exceeds the pile diameter.

Article 6: Formwork engineering and support systems shall be classified as posing a major accident hazard if any of the following circumstances exist:

(1) The bearing capacity and deformation of the formwork support system’s foundation do not meet the design requirements;

(2) The construction loads borne by the formwork support system exceed the design values;

(3) During the removal of formwork supports and the lifting of slipform or climbing formwork, the concrete strength has not yet reached the design or code‑required level.

(4) Concrete pouring for formwork support systems with high risk was not carried out in accordance with the sequence or layer thickness specified in the specialized construction plan.

Article 7: Scaffolding works shall be classified as posing a major accident hazard if any of the following circumstances apply:

(1) The bearing capacity and deformation of the scaffolding foundation do not meet the design requirements;

(2) No wall‑anchoring members are installed, or wall‑anchoring members are missing on an entire floor;

(3) The anti-tilting, anti-falling, or synchronous lifting control devices of attached lifting scaffolds do not meet design requirements, have failed, or are missing.

Article 8: Construction lifting machinery and hoisting operations shall be deemed to present a major accident hazard if any of the following circumstances exist:

(1) Tower cranes, construction elevators, material hoists, and other lifting equipment are put into service without having passed acceptance inspection, or have not undergone the required registration for use.

(2) The foundation bearing capacity and deformation of construction lifting machinery do not meet the design requirements;

(3) Prior to the installation, dismantling, climbing (or descending), and attachment of construction lifting machinery, no inspection was conducted on structural components, climbing devices, attachment devices, as well as connecting elements such as high-strength bolts, pins, locating plates, and safety devices.

(4) The safety devices of construction lifting machinery are incomplete, inoperative, or have been illegally removed or damaged;

(5) The primary load-bearing components of construction lifting machinery exhibit visible cracks, severe corrosion, plastic deformation, or weld cracking; alternatively, their connecting bolts or pins are missing or have failed.

(6) The attachment spacing of the construction elevator, the maximum overhang above the highest attachment, and the verticality do not comply with the relevant code requirements.

(7) The tower crane’s independent lifting height, anchorage spacing, maximum overhang above the highest anchorage, and verticality do not comply with the relevant code requirements.

(8) The tower crane has not maintained a safe clearance from surrounding buildings, structures, or other cranes operating in close proximity.

(9) Using construction lifting machinery that has reached the scrapping standard, or using slings and rigging equipment that have reached the scrapping standard, for lifting and hoisting operations.

Article 9: Work at height shall be classified as a major accident hazard if any of the following circumstances exist:

(1) The bearing capacity and deformation of the support structures used for steel structure and space frame installation fail to meet the design requirements; or the support structures exceed their design load capacity, or anti-overturning devices have not been installed in accordance with the design specifications.

(2) No measures were taken to prevent instability during the installation of prefabricated components such as single‑span steel trusses (roof trusses).

(3) The bearing points, anchorage points, and support points of the cantilevered unloading platform are not located on a stable primary structural element, nor have they been securely connected.

(4) Where the space between the scaffolding and the exterior surface of the structure is left unobstructed without horizontal protective measures, or where the elevator shaft is left unobstructed without horizontal protective measures and the elevator shaft opening is not equipped with a protective gate;

(5) The suspended access platform is operated beyond its rated load, or its safety lock has failed, or the safety rope (used to secure the safety harness) is not independently suspended.

Article 10: Temporary electrical installations used during construction shall be deemed to constitute a major accident hazard if any of the following circumstances exist:

(1) In special working environments—such as poorly ventilated spaces, high-temperature conditions, the presence of conductive dust, relative humidity consistently exceeding 75%, muddy conditions, or the presence of standing water or other conductive liquids—lighting is not operated at the prescribed safety voltage.

(2) The safety distances between ongoing construction projects, scaffolding, mechanical equipment, on-site vehicular roadways, and overhead external power lines do not comply with regulatory requirements, and no protective measures have been implemented.

Article 11: Work in confined spaces shall be deemed to present a major accident hazard if any of the following circumstances apply:

(1) Failure to identify confined spaces at the construction site and failure to place warning signs in conspicuous locations;

(2) Work in confined spaces was carried out without complying with the “work‑permit system,” without providing specialized safety training to workers, and without adhering to the principle of “ventilate first, test next, then commence work.”

(3) During confined-space operations, there is no dedicated on-site supervisor, or no full-time safety production management personnel conducting on-site oversight.

(4) The confined-space work site is not equipped with the necessary gas detection, mechanical ventilation, respiratory protection, and emergency rescue facilities and equipment.

Article 12: Demolition operations shall be classified as posing a significant accident hazard if any of the following circumstances apply:

(1) In decoration and renovation projects, the removal of load-bearing structures has been carried out without a structural review conducted by the original design unit or a design unit possessing the corresponding qualifications.

(2) The sequence of demolition operations does not comply with relevant codes and the requirements of the construction plan.

Article 13: Tunnel projects shall be classified as posing a major accident hazard if any of the following circumstances exist:

(1) Conducting construction on a wet working face without implementing the required measures, or continuing construction despite the failure of groundwater control measures;

(2) During construction, water or sand bursts occurred, localized collapses took place, the support structure became distorted or cracked, and no timely corrective measures were implemented.

(3) Failure to select excavation and support methods in accordance with relevant codes or the construction plan; failure to conduct advance geological forecasting and monitoring measurements as required; or exceeding the design control limits in monitoring data without taking timely corrective measures.

(4) The launch and reception tunneling machine head ends were not reinforced in accordance with the design, or the reinforcement did not meet the required standards, and construction was commenced without implementing corrective measures.

(5) Continuing tunneling operations despite failure of the shield tail seal or leakage at the hinge joints, or conducting pressurized chamber entry for inspection and cutter replacement without complying with the relevant regulations;

(6) Failure to implement specific protective measures for adjacent buildings, structures, underground pipelines, and other facilities that may be damaged during construction;

(7) Conducting construction of new, renovated, or expanded buildings and structures, laying pipelines, erecting overhead lines, excavating, or carrying out blasting operations within the safety protection zone of rail transit projects without prior approval.

Article 14: Temporary construction surcharges shall be deemed to constitute a major accident hazard if any of the following circumstances apply:

(1) Surcharge loads around the excavation exceed the design‑allowed values;

(2) Around the perimeter of an unshored excavation (trench), surcharge loads shall be applied within a zone extending outward from the bottom edge of the excavation, with a width equal to the excavation depth.

(3) Overloading of structural members such as floor slabs, roof decks, and basement ceiling slabs, or of scaffolding, exceeding the design‑specified allowable loads.

Article 15: Where any of the following hazardous operations is present, it shall be classified as a major accident hazard:

(1) When using large-scale machinery such as concrete pump trucks, piling equipment, truck-mounted cranes, and crawler cranes, the load-bearing capacity of their operating routes and work positions has not been verified.

(2) Conducting hoisting operations, equipment installation and dismantling, or work at heights in violation of regulations under adverse weather conditions such as thunderstorms, heavy snow, dense fog, or strong winds;

(3) At the construction site, personnel are hoisted using non‑manned equipment such as tower cranes, truck‑mounted cranes, crawler cranes, or tire‑mounted cranes.

Article 16: Construction techniques, equipment, and materials that are explicitly prohibited or restricted by the state and pose a significant level of hazard—capable of causing mass casualties or substantial economic losses—shall be classified as major accident hazards.

Article 17: Any other serious violations of laws, regulations, departmental rules, and mandatory standards governing work safety in housing and municipal engineering projects, which pose a significant level of hazard and may result in mass casualties or substantial economic losses, shall be classified as a major accident hazard.

Article 18 This Standard shall enter into force as of the date of its promulgation. The “Criteria for Determining Major Production Safety Hazards in Housing and Municipal Engineering (2022 Edition)” (Jian Zhi Gui [2022] No. 2) is hereby repealed simultaneously.