China moves to tighten university lab safety management

China's Ministry of Education has issued a trial regulation on the tiered and classified safety management of laboratories at universities and colleges.

The regulation clarifies the responsibility system, work principles and management requirements concerning the safety management of labs at universities and colleges.

According to the regulation, a laboratory should be graded as major risk, high risk, medium risk or low risk according to its hazard sources and their volume, and be classified into types such as chemistry, biology, radiation and electro-mechanics.

Those in charge of a laboratory, its safety managers and staff should undergo safety training and emergency response drills according to the lab's safety grade, as highlighted in the regulation.

It also stipulates that scientific research projects and other experimental activities carried out in a laboratory should be subject to safety risk assessment.