Analysis of production safety accidents in the machinery industry in 2025

The production safety situation in the machinery industry in 2025 has attracted much attention.
First, let’s look at the basic situation. In terms of major accidents, no major or above accidents occurred in the machinery industry in 2025. Compared with 2024, the number of major accidents dropped by 1 and the number of fatalities decreased by 8. This is a positive signal.
In terms of industry distribution, according to the “National Economic Industry Classification” (GB/T 4754-2017), among the nine major categories of the machinery industry, the top five production safety accidents in 2025 are metal products industry, general equipment manufacturing industry, special equipment manufacturing industry, automobile manufacturing industry, electrical machinery and equipment manufacturing industry, which account for 91% of the total accidents.
In terms of accident types, according to the “Classification of Casualty Accidents of Enterprise Employees” (GB 6441 – 1986), the top five accident types in the machinery industry in 2025 are mechanical injuries, strikes by objects, falling from heights, electric shocks and other injuries. The number of accidents and deaths accounted for 86.3% of the total accidents, and compared with 2024, the most frequent accident types have not changed.

However, there are still many problems and risks and challenges in the machinery industry.
First, the total number of accidents is still large. In 2025, the total number of production safety accidents in the machinery industry ranked first in the industry and trade industry, accounting for 28.1% of the total accidents in the industry and trade industry. Compared with 2024, the number of accidents and deaths were basically the same. The reduction of accidents has entered a plateau period, and the difficulty of prevention and control has further increased.
There were also three high-temperature molten metal splash accidents and six dust explosion accidents in 2025. Such accidents can easily be upgraded to larger or even serious accidents. For example, on March 8, 2025, a dust explosion occurred at Huachuan Machinery Processing Co., Ltd. in Qinhuangdao City, Hebei Province, injuring 20 people, and there were 58 workers on the day of the incident.

Second, the intrinsic safety protection of equipment is insufficient. Mechanical injury accidents account for 36.1% and 35.4% of the total number of accidents and deaths in the machinery industry, making it the type of accident with the highest incidence rate.
Among them, accidents caused by insufficient equipment safety protection accounted for 71.4% and 72.1% of the number of mechanical injury accidents and deaths.
The machinery industry has a lot of old production equipment, low safety quality, insufficient safety protection levels, lack of safety warning functions, and low intrinsic safety levels. Problems such as improper operation and maintenance of the user unit, insufficient safety awareness and skills of employees, failure of safety devices or failure to detect hidden dangers in time are prominent, which can easily lead to various accidents.

Third, inspection and maintenance work accidents are prone to occur. In 2025, inspection and maintenance work accidents in the machinery industry accounted for 21.0% and 20.7% of the number of accidents and deaths in the machinery industry. Among the 13 main and auxiliary production process operations in the machinery industry, inspection and maintenance work accidents accounted for the highest number of accidents and death tolls.
Mechanical injuries, falls from heights and strikes from objects are the main types of accidents in maintenance operations, accounting for 75.4% and 75.4% of the number of accidents and deaths in maintenance operations.
In inspection and maintenance operations, there are problems such as insufficient analysis of dangerous and harmful factors, incomplete energy isolation and energy release, and insufficient safety protection. At the same time, special operation risks such as heights, fires, and limited spaces are superimposed, resulting in a high risk of accidents in inspection and maintenance operations.

Fourthly, safety control of outsourcing operations is not in place. Compared with 2024, the number of accidents and deaths in outsourcing units in the machinery industry increased by 93.8% and 113.3% respectively.
The contract-issuing unit failed to manage the qualification review, operation process control, education and training of the contracting unit, and the main responsibilities were not fully implemented. Problems such as “contracting”, “contracting without caring”, and illegal subcontracting and subcontracting were prominent.
Contracting units emphasize efficiency over safety, have high turnover of employees, and blindly compress construction periods, resulting in inadequate risk identification and prevention and control. “Three violations” occur from time to time. Moreover, the operation is highly dangerous and the environment is complex and harsh, which can easily lead to various accidents.

Fifth, the prevention and control of new risk accidents faces greater challenges. The accelerated application of new processes, new technologies, and new equipment such as lithium-ion batteries, additive manufacturing (3D printing), automated robotic arms, and automated three-dimensional warehouses has brought new risks and hazards.
The existing management model and technical means do not match the safety prevention and control needs. The safety standards and specifications of new technology equipment in the machinery industry lag behind industrial development. At the same time, some machinery companies have insufficient understanding of the safe working mechanism of new technology equipment, incomplete safety operating specifications, and lack of protection and control measures, resulting in insufficient new risk prevention and control capabilities.
On March 13, 2025, a dust flashover accident occurred when Guangdong Jingrui Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. was cleaning the filter element of 3D printing equipment, injuring three people. This is a typical case.

In response to the above problems, a series of measures need to be taken in the next step.
The first is to focus on major safety risks and deepen the dynamic clearing of major accident hazards.
Keep a close eye on high-risk areas such as high-temperature molten metal, dust-related explosions, limited spaces, and hazardous chemicals, focus on the dynamic clearing of major accident hazards, and promote enterprises to establish regular self-examination and self-correction of hidden hazards and internal reporting reward mechanisms.
Strengthen the investigation and rectification of major accident hazards such as water accumulation in casting melting furnaces and pouring workplaces, large accumulation of explosion-related dust, leakage of natural gas equipment, and illegal use of hazardous chemicals.
Promote the automated transfer and pouring of high-temperature molten metal companies, and companies involved in dust and explosions to adopt automated grinding and polishing and wet dust removal processes to reduce the risk of accidents.

The second is to improve the intrinsic safety level of equipment and facilities and make every effort to reduce the total number of accidents.
Accelerate the safety technical renovation and upgrading of old equipment and facilities, improve the safety protection level of equipment, ensure that protective measures such as emergency stops, audible and visual alarms, and closed protective fences are in place for exposed rotating parts of equipment and automated equipment operating areas, and ensure the effective operation of safety facilities such as travel limits, emergency stops, and interlocking cutoffs.
Standardize the operating procedures. To temporarily handle production abnormalities, you must first cut off the power and trigger the safety device.
Efforts will be made to reduce high-frequency accidents such as mechanical injuries, object strikes and electric shocks, and effectively reduce the total number of accidents.

The third is to strengthen inspection and maintenance work specifications to effectively prevent and control the risk of inspection and maintenance accidents.
Enterprises are urged to strictly carry out safety technical disclosure and risk identification for inspection and maintenance operations, standardize the handling of special operation tickets, strictly implement the power-off, lock-out, and tag-out (LOTO) system to ensure that equipment and safety facilities are in good condition before operation.
Set up a dedicated person to monitor the entire process. It is strictly prohibited to carry out maintenance without special tools or conditions. It is strictly prohibited to adjust the equipment or carry out cleaning operations while the machine is on.
Strict safety inspection is carried out before trial operation, and only after confirming that all personnel in the operating area have evacuated can the switch be unlocked and closed.
Operators must pass special training and properly wear labor protection supplies. Temporary handling of equipment abnormalities must trigger emergency stops, light barrier protection and other devices to eliminate safety risks such as misoperation and misstart from the entire process.

The fourth is to effectively control outsourcing operations and curb the frequent occurrence of outsourcing accidents.
In view of the risk characteristics of scattered outsourcing operations in the machinery industry and the small scale of contracting units, we must strictly implement the main responsibilities of the outsourcing unit, strengthen the closed-loop management of the entire process of access, operation, and exit of the outsourcing team, and effectively prevent and control the rebound of outsourcing accidents.
Strictly review the qualifications, safety management capabilities and certification status of outsourcing units.
Carry out targeted safety technical briefings, clarify mechanical operation risk points, safety procedures and emergency measures, and implement on-site safety protection and monitoring measures.
Arrange special personnel to supervise outsourcing operations, strictly control illegal operations and operations beyond the scope, and ensure that outsourced personnel wear labor protection supplies correctly.
Regularly carry out safety training and assessment for outsourced personnel, establish a safety ledger, and conduct safety assessment and experience feedback after high-risk operations are completed to achieve closed-loop management of the entire process.

Fifth, technology empowers machinery safety and improves risk prevention capabilities.
Relying on ministerial-level key laboratories and key science and technology plan projects such as dust explosion prevention and industrial and trade safety supervision, we will carry out risk research on new business formats and new industries, explore the use of “artificial intelligence +” and other technologies to empower machinery safety, and improve risk management and control and hidden danger investigation and governance.
In high-risk places such as lithium battery assembly, casting operations, and 3D printing, explore the application of intelligent detection and identification technology for hidden dangers to improve on-site safety management and control efficiency.
Research and formulate safety regulations for new energy vehicle manufacturing, 3D printing, etc., and focus on preventing accident risks in emerging fields.