Emphasis must be on safety first at all times

At a news conference held in Wuzhou city, Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region on Saturday, it was confirmed that all 132 people, 123 passengers and nine crew members, onboard China Eastern Airlines MU5735 had died when the plane crashed in the autonomous region on Monday.

The State Council and the Ministry of Emergency Management co-issued a notice the day after the crash, calling for all industries to "rectify potential safety hazards" so as to prevent major accidents from happening.

The notice especially required the civil aviation industry to ensure the absolute safety of flights, and the aviation authorities are carrying out an extensive two-week check-up of China's fleet of passenger planes.

Some describe it as "a thorough health check of the domestic civil aviation industry", since as well as the hardware, it also focuses on the human aspects, namely recognizing the importance of safety, building professional teams, drafting strict standards, strengthening safety management, providing ample training and establishing a system of responsibility.

In the 1930s, William Herbert Heinrich published some groundbreaking theories about safety and health in the workplace, one of which became known as Heinrich's Law. This states that for every accident that causes a major injury, there are 29 accidents that cause minor injuries and 300 accidents that cause no injuries.

While critics claim that Heinrich put too much emphasis on worker behavior and not enough attention on systems and design, his theories bring attention to workplace safety and focus on the human element of safety.

There are many questions about such a crash that people want urgent answers to. But the accident investigation will take time to complete. In the meantime, the best way for the civil aviation industry to regain public confidence is to ensure the safety checks of planes and procedures are rigorously carried out and that there is strong leadership to ensure risk prevention and control, and strict adherence to regulations and operational standards. Every staff member must ensure they do their daily routine jobs correctly.

It is not just the aviation industry that has to conduct a thorough investigation of potential risks, inspections are also to be carried out in other industries such as mining, the chemical industry, public transport and housing construction.

As of Feb 19, 2022, the continuous safe flight time of China's civil aviation had exceeded 100 million hours, a record for civil aviation worldwide. This was the result of the stringent safety protocols that have been established. Accidents happen, but with an iron-clad safety-first approach everything possible can be done to try and prevent them.