Current situation of China's labor protection equipment industry

Labor protective equipment is an individual protective equipment equipped to protect workers from accidents and occupational hazards during the labor process. Equipping labor protective equipment is one of the important measures to protect workers' safety and health. Therefore, labor protection equipment is also an important content in safety production supervision and management.

The establishment and development of the labor protection equipment industry was established and developed with the establishment of China's socialist system and the development of industry and agriculture. After the establishment of New China, the Party and government attached great importance to the development of the labor protection equipment industry, and the reform and opening up promoted the comprehensive development of China's labor protection equipment industry. At present, China has a complete range and sufficient quantity of labor protection equipment, which basically meets the needs of domestic economic development and has formed a labor protection equipment industry that protects the safety and health of workers.

According to statistics, there are thousands of labor protection equipment production enterprises across the country, with tens of thousands of employees serving safety production. According to incomplete statistics from the National Labor Protection Equipment Safety Production License Office, there are 800 special labor protection equipment production enterprises in China, with 1288 safety production licenses issued, including 132 safety helmets; 74 safety belts; 112 anti-static conductive shoes; 42 dust mask; 150 safety shoes for toe protection; 46 flame-retardant protective clothing companies; 190 safety nets; 158 anti-static work clothes; 49 acid and alkali resistant leather shoes; 147 electric insulated shoes, etc. It can be seen that China's labor and defense protective equipment has formed a large industry.

The labor protection equipment market in China is also very large. According to statistics from relevant departments, the annual demand for labor protection equipment market is 25 to 30 billion yuan. The annual demand for protective clothing is 80 million sets, including over 10 million sets of special protective clothing; 2.6 million sets of flame retardant protective clothing; 2.7 million sets of acid and alkali resistant work clothes; 5 million sets of anti-static work clothes. The annual demand for various protective shoes is over 96 million pairs, including 45 million pairs of anti impact shoes; 1.27 million pairs of anti-static shoes; 2.55 million pairs of acid and alkali resistant shoes and 1.87 million pairs of oil resistant shoes; 2.55 million pairs of insulated shoes and 1.87 million pairs of stab resistant shoes; Other protective shoes are 21.15 million pairs. The annual demand of various dust mask is 15600. The annual demand for various gas masks is 3.1 to 4.5 million in coal and chemical industries alone. Therefore, it can be seen that there is a vast market for labor protection equipment in China.

However, China's labor protection equipment industry is still a weak industry, and compared to developed countries, we still have a considerable gap. The main manifestations are that the standards of labor protection products are extremely backward, there are still gaps in product varieties, the technological content is not high, the quality is uneven, the investment in scientific research is insufficient, and the upgrading is relatively backward.

2. Development Trends of China's Labor Protection Equipment Industry

With the continuous development of China's economy, the improvement of people's living standards, and the enhancement of safety production awareness, the demand for labor protection equipment is increasing, and the requirements for product variety and quality are becoming higher and higher. This will provide infinite vitality for the development of the labor protection equipment industry, while also constantly posing new challenges. The labor protection equipment industry is a promising industry and a sunrise industry, There will be greater development in the 21st century.

2.1 I believe that the labor protection equipment industry will develop towards scale and collectivization

At present, China's labor protection equipment enterprises are small and medium-sized enterprises. According to relevant departments, 70% of the enterprises stay in scattered, individual, and outdated manual workshop production methods, with weak funds, small production scale, low mechanization, and automation. They are in a low level, low quality, low efficiency, and low efficiency production and operation state, which is not suitable for the rapid development of China's economy, especially after China's accession to the WTO, Some major international labor protection equipment production enterprises have entered or are preparing to enter the Chinese market and participate in the competition in the labor protection equipment market. Therefore, in order for Chinese labor protection equipment enterprises to survive, develop, and remain invincible in market competition, they must improve their own competitiveness, recombine their dispersed financial, material, and resource resources, and develop towards scale and collectivization.

2.2 The standards of labor protection products are moving closer to advanced standards and in line with international standards

Product standards are the basis for producing labor protection products and a measure of the quality of labor protection products. Without advanced, more rigorous, and scientific product standards, high-quality labor protection products cannot be produced, and the safety and health of workers cannot be effectively protected. Although we have equivalent standards or adopted international standards, there are still some products that have not yet developed national standards, some standard technical indicators are relatively low, and some product inspection methods are still relatively backward. With the development of global integration, the labor protection equipment industry is bound to integrate into the international market and participate in market competition, which is an inevitable fact. Therefore, it is necessary to align product standards with international advanced standards, improve product quality and after-sales service, and thus survive and develop in competition.

2.3 Increase the technological content of labor protection equipment and develop towards lightness, comfort, and versatility

With the development of science and technology and the improvement of national safety awareness, workers not only require product quality and safety protection performance, but also require products to have comfort, beauty, and a sense of defecation. The sense of defecation is to simplify complexity and turn bulkiness into lightness; Aesthetics refers to dressing aesthetically and generously, reflecting the demeanor of workers. Comfort refers to simplicity and wearability. The versatility of a product is also an important indicator of the quality and performance of labor protection equipment in the future. Because there are multiple occupational hazards in the production environment, it is impossible to equip one occupational hazard with one protective equipment. It is required to integrate multiple functions of the product in order to truly and effectively protect the safety and health of workers, The work clothes worn by petroleum workers should have multifunctional requirements such as flame retardant, anti-static, waterproof, and oil repellent. Therefore, the research and development of multifunctional labor protection products is also a topic that needs to be developed and researched

2.4 Adapt to the modernization of the labor protection equipment industry and require high-quality talents

The modernization of labor protection equipment will inevitably achieve mechanization, automation, and the adoption of new technologies and processes. Objectively, high-quality producers and operators are required to manage modern enterprises well; Require educated and high-quality workers to manage modern enterprises well; Only educated and high-quality workers are required to master modern equipment and produce high-quality products. At present, the workshop style production mode, family style management mode, low cultural level, workers lacking operational skills, and managers lacking modern management are unable to participate in international market competition. To develop the labor protection equipment industry, firstly, production operators must change their mindset, establish modern awareness, and establish management systems that are suitable for modern enterprises; Secondly, it is to improve the cultural quality and operational skills of workers, and to enhance the overall quality of enterprise personnel.

2.5 More standardized and legalized labor protection equipment market

To survive and develop, enterprises must follow international practices to organize the production, operation, and sales of labor protection equipment, which is an immutable operating rule. At present, due to the lagging regulatory construction of the labor protection equipment industry and the development of the market economy, some enterprises adopt improper business methods to produce and sell substandard and shoddy products, disrupting the normal market order and seriously endangering the safety and health of workers. Therefore, with the development of the economy and the strengthening of national management functions, the labor protection equipment market has become more standardized and legalized

3. Thoughts on the management of labor protection equipment

3.1 Accelerate the legal construction of the labor protection equipment industry and improve the supervision and management system. The supervision and management of labor protection equipment is an important component and content of safety production supervision and management, and improving the construction of regulations and standards is the basic work of safety production supervision and management. For decades, the labor protection equipment industry has done a lot of work in the construction of regulations and standards, and has established a regulatory and standard system that is basically adapted to economic development. However, with the development of the market economy, especially the continuous emergence of labor protection products and new processes, accelerating the construction and improvement of regulations and standards, especially the continuous emergence of new products and processes for labor protection equipment, accelerating the construction of regulations and standards is an urgent task for the future.

3.2 Further accelerating labor protection equipment is a special product that protects the safety and health of workers. If the protective performance of labor protection equipment cannot meet the standard requirements, it not only cannot protect the life safety and health of workers, but also becomes a pest to the safety and health of workers, seriously endangering their safety and health. Therefore, strengthening the supervision and management of the labor protection equipment market is an important content of future work. This includes:

(1) Strengthen the supervision and management of the safety performance of labor protection equipment.

At present, the safety performance of most products in the labor protection equipment market meets the standard requirements, playing an important role in protecting the safety and health of workers. However, there are some products with low quality, such as shoddy and shoddy products. We need to further leverage the role of inspection agencies, increase sampling efforts for labor protection products, expose production enterprises that do not meet the standard requirements, resolutely close down enterprises that do not meet production conditions, and resolutely crack down on those who manufacture inferior products.

(2) Strengthen supervision and management of user units.

In order to prevent inferior products from entering the use process, we will increase the supervision and management of the purchase of labor protection equipment by users in the future, and investigate and punish enterprises that purchase inferior labor protection equipment in accordance with relevant regulations.

(3) Strengthen supervision of the provision of labor protection equipment.

At present, some enterprises convert labor protection equipment into cash or do not distribute labor protection equipment at all in order to save time or expenses. It should be particularly pointed out that there is a phenomenon in the construction industry where workers are not equipped with labor protection equipment. In the future, in accordance with the requirements of the Safety Production Law, we will increase supervision and management efforts on the distribution of low-quality labor protection equipment to enterprises.

(4) Strengthen the system of scrapping labor protection equipment.

Each type of labor protection equipment has its validity period, and employers must replace expired and failed products in a timely manner according to national requirements and product usage periods, especially special labor protection equipment.

3.3 Implement the strategy of technological progress, strengthen technological development, improve product quality, grade, and variety, and continuously meet market demands. Most of the labor protection equipment production enterprises in China are small and medium-sized enterprises. Due to limitations in material resources, financial resources, manpower, and technology, product quality is generally not high, and product updates are slow, which restricts the development of the labor protection equipment industry. Therefore, it is necessary to increase scientific research and development, establish a "industry university research" integration mechanism, leverage the expertise of enterprises, universities, and research institutions, complement each other's advantages, jointly develop new varieties, and actively participate in international market competition.

3.4 Strengthen the promotion of basic knowledge of labor protection equipment and establish workers' self-protection awareness. The revitalization and development of the labor protection equipment industry requires the attention and support of the country and society, and more importantly, the improvement of workers' own safety awareness. At present, some enterprises still have a unclear understanding of the importance of safety production and are unwilling to invest in labor protection equipment. Some even ignore national laws and regulations, fail to provide workers with labor protection equipment that meets safety requirements or equip them with labor protection equipment that does not meet safety requirements. Some workers still lack self-protection awareness, and in order to have a job, they do not require enterprises to provide necessary labor protection equipment, and even do not use or cannot use labor protection equipment normally. Therefore, it is necessary to utilize various media and propaganda institutions to fully promote safety knowledge and labor protection equipment knowledge. According to national requirements, workers should receive safety awareness training to improve the safety awareness and self-protection awareness of the whole people. We should change "I want to be safe" to "I want to be safe" and "I will be safe", so that China's safety production can develop in a good environment and the labor protection equipment industry can have greater development.