On August 6, 2026, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Emergency Management jointly issued the Development Plan for the Safety Emergency Equipment Industry during the 15th Five-Year Plan Period (MIIT Joint Regulation [2026] No.186). For the first time, the steel industry has been specifically included in the key promotion catalog of safety emergency equipment for the industrial manufacturing sector. The plan clearly identifies dynamic monitoring and early warning technologies for major accident risks involving high-temperature molten metal, metallurgical gases, and other hazards as key areas for common technology development. It also promotes nine categories of equipment, including toxic and hazardous gas detection and alarm systems, online dust concentration monitoring equipment, high-temperature molten metal operation risk monitoring systems, industrial fire protection systems, and explosion-proof robots.
The metallurgical industry has long faced frequent and severe risks, including molten metal splashes, gas poisoning, and confined-space operations. According to accident analysis by the Ministry of Emergency Management, during major metallurgical accidents from 2023 to 2024, gas poisoning and molten metal burns accounted for the majority of fatalities in serious accidents, with several incidents involving expanded casualties caused by improper rescue attempts.
The newly released Plan directly addresses these challenges. In Column 1, “Safety Production Technologies for Key Industries and Fields,” it highlights:
1.Dynamic monitoring and early warning technologies for major accident risks such as high-temperature molten metal and metallurgical gases;
2.Full life-cycle safety status monitoring and special operation risk control;
3.Rapid identification, remote detection, and prevention of mixed-contact risks.
In the promotion list for “Industrial Manufacturing” under Column 3, the steel industry is listed alongside petrochemical and chemical industries, non-ferrous metals, and building materials. The promoted equipment includes: toxic and hazardous gas detection and alarm equipment, online dust concentration monitoring equipment, high-temperature molten metal operation risk monitoring systems, industrial fire protection systems and equipment, advanced personal protective equipment, toxic gas shelter systems and equipment, decontamination equipment, explosion-proof robots, and reconnaissance robots for high-risk complex environments.
The Plan sets clear targets for 2030: the industrial scale of key safety emergency equipment sectors will reach RMB 1.4 trillion, with the construction of 10 national-level industrial clusters and 70 specialized industrial parks, while cultivating a group of leading enterprises and specialized “little giant” companies.
For steel enterprises, the policy opportunities will mainly emerge through three implementation channels:
1.Technology Side — AI vision systems for identifying molten steel ladle levels and ladle wall erosion, infrared temperature measurement technologies resistant to smoke interference, robotic inspections in gas areas, and Beidou + UWB indoor and outdoor positioning systems will be supported through technology competition programs and first-of-a-kind equipment initiatives;
2.Application Side — State-owned enterprises and industrial parks will be encouraged to open real-world application scenarios, allowing advanced equipment to enter the market through a combination of “first purchase and first application + promotion catalogs + urban renewal and technological transformation policies”;
3.Industrial Side — Steel enterprise technological upgrades will simultaneously drive demand for special steels such as Q460–Q960 high-strength steel, NM-series wear-resistant steel, 316L/duplex stainless steel, and ballistic and explosion-resistant plates. Safety emergency equipment itself will become a new source of structural downstream demand for the steel industry.
Industry analysts believe that the Development Plan for the Safety Emergency Equipment Industry during the 15th Five-Year Plan Period upgrades industrial safety from a “general consideration” to a “national-level safety infrastructure.” As a typical process industry, the steel sector will face stricter requirements in areas such as monitoring and early warning system integration, dynamic elimination of major hazard sources, and unmanned maintenance and inspection operations.
In the next stage, the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology and the Ministry of Emergency Management will promote interdepartmental coordination, cooperation between central and local governments, and supply-demand matching. The goal is to make mechanization and unmanned operation of high-temperature molten metal areas, robotic inspection in metallurgical gas zones, and full coverage of risk monitoring and early warning systems key measures for equipment upgrades and safety production assessments in steel enterprises.
In simple terms, over the next five years, steel plant competitiveness will not only depend on steel production costs, but also on whether “1,600°C molten steel ladles can be monitored accurately by algorithms” and whether “gas leakage from storage facilities can trigger warnings 10 minutes in advance.” Safety emergency equipment is shifting from a supporting expense to an essential component of intelligent steel manufacturing.
Excerpted from Steel.com
