Safety guardian Zhang Zhenfeng: the most beautiful grassroots cadre who is not afraid of being scolded

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Zhang Zhenfeng (left) inspecting the production workshop. Photo by reporter Guo Yaru

The focus of work safety is at the grassroots level, and so are the difficulties. Since starting work safety supervision in 2002, Zhang Zhenfeng, head of the work safety supervision station of Zhuzhangzi Township, Qinglong County, Hebei, has quietly held his post and worked diligently in an ordinary position. "As long as I work one day, I must do my utmost. This is work that concerns human life, and absolutely nothing can go wrong on my watch." Through his efforts, the entire township has gone 10 consecutive years without a work safety accident.

?Responsibility on his shoulders, "fear not ten thousand, but fear the one in ten thousand"

The township work safety supervision station is both the grassroots tip and the supervisory outpost. Zhuzhangzi Township has 18 enterprises in total, including non-coal mines, hazardous chemicals, fireworks and firecrackers and other high-risk industries, so the supervision task is very heavy.

With the heavy task of supervision on his shoulders, a sense of responsibility is most important. In order to firm up the tip and keep watch at the front line, Zhang Zhenfeng set a rule for himself: every document issued by higher authorities must be delivered personally into the hands of the enterprise responsible person, ensuring that the Party and government's work safety guidelines, policies, decisions and arrangements are transmitted promptly and accurately to the villages and to the enterprises.

Documents could be picked up by enterprises after a phone call, passed along by someone else, or mailed, so why must he deliver them himself? In Zhang Zhenfeng's view, delivering a document means transmitting responsibility. "Only when an enterprise accepts responsibility can we talk about implementation."

Whether delivering documents or conducting law enforcement inspections, he inevitably had to run to enterprises and mines every day. Every month, Zhang Zhenfeng spent more than 20 days working away from the office. Over 14 years, whenever Zhang Zhenfeng went out, his means of transport was almost always a bicycle. You should know that Zhuzhangzi Township is located in a mountainous area, with few flat roads, and the farthest village is 15 or 16 km from the township government. Over 14 years, Zhang Zhenfeng rode more than 40,000 km and wore out 3 bicycles. Sometimes when he urgently needed to get to a mine and cycling was too slow, Zhang Zhenfeng paid out of his own pocket to rent a car. Relative to his income, each car rental cost of 30 to 50 yuan was not a small amount. But he did not fuss over it. "When I see that the enterprises I am responsible for have no accidents, I feel happy. When a person is happy, nothing else matters."

In the past two years, the mining industry has been sluggish, and many enterprises have suspended production. "I do not dare be careless at all. Even for enterprises that have suspended production, I still have to go two or three times a week. In work safety, fear not ten thousand, but fear the one in ten thousand!" Zhang Zhenfeng said.

Because the township has 5 tailings ponds, every flood season becomes Zhang Zhenfeng's most tense time. When heavy rain falls, while others run home, he runs to the township and to the tailings ponds, inspecting each of the township's 5 tailings ponds at least once a day. When Zhang Zhenfeng gets busy, sometimes he simply stays in a simple shack on top of a tailings dam. He once went two consecutive weeks without going home, and even had his changes of clothes brought to him. In his heart, "the heavier the rain, the more worried I am; if I leave, I will not feel at ease."

?Full of tenacity, "rather hear scolding than hear crying"

Work safety supervision is hard work, tiring work, and also work that "offends people."

"I am doing this for their good, so why do they still say I am nagging?" When he first took up work safety supervision, many enterprises said he "liked to meddle," which puzzled Zhang Zhenfeng. But he did not accept that reasoning. "When urging enterprises to rectify hidden dangers, if one time does not work, we say it twice. As long as accidents can be avoided, what others think of me does not matter. Rather hear scolding than hear crying!"

In 2002, during one inspection at an enterprise, the enterprise's responsible person refused to accept it. For this reason, Zhang Zhenfeng made one trip after another, found the facts that the enterprise had violated regulations, and demanded timely rectification and acceptance of punishment. After that, the enterprise's responsible person also began to attach importance to work safety.

During the 2011 flood season, while inspecting in the rain at the Minyi Mining area, Zhang Zhenfeng found that a high-voltage power pole near a river ditch had sunk into the rising river water. Once it was washed away and collapsed, danger could easily occur. Zhang Zhenfeng then found the enterprise boss and demanded reinforcement, but the boss did not take it seriously. So he returned to the site to watch the power pole, and as soon as there was a sign of tilting, he ran to drag the boss to the site, finally persuading him to send people to reinforce it and avoiding an accident. As Zhang Zhenfeng himself said, to do things one must have tenacity, not fear trouble, not fear being talkative, and never give up until the goal is reached.

"He does not just 'find faults'; he also helps enterprises formulate occupational hazard prevention systems, improve files, and so on." After dealing with him for more than 10 years, Huang Yuhua, mine manager of Fada Mining in Zhuzhangzi Township, understands Zhang Zhenfeng very well. "Everyone knows he is doing this for our good."

Diligent in study and hardworking, from "layman" to "know-it-all"

In work safety supervision, Zhang Zhenfeng could be considered a "late starter." Since transferring from the post of township judicial assistant, he has persisted in learning skills from practice and professional knowledge from books.

In the first few years, every time he went to an enterprise for inspection, Zhang Zhenfeng would seize the opportunity and constantly ask enterprise technical personnel for advice and learning. A book he accidentally discovered in 2008, "Three Hundred Questions on Training Materials for Ore Dressing Workers," was like a treasure to him. He hurried to photocopy it, took it out to study at any time, and always carried it when going down into mines for inspections. Before long, the book was worn out from being flipped through, while Zhang Zhenfeng had systematically mastered knowledge of the entire process from mining and ore dressing to tailings pond discharge. Gradually, when he went to enterprises for inspections again, Zhang Zhenfeng could always use his "piercing eyes" to find hidden safety dangers.

Diligent in learning and asking, and willing to put in effort to study, Zhang Zhenfeng's work ability took a big step up. Over the years, all the township government's rules and regulations related to work safety have been drafted by him; the annual emergency drills for tailings dam breaches, gas station oil leaks, and non-coal mines have all been organized and implemented under his responsibility. In 2002, when there were no regulations from higher authorities, Zhang Zhenfeng took the initiative to raise pressure on himself and established 8 types of ledgers, including the "Work Safety Inspection Record Ledger" and the "Accident Hidden Danger Ledger." Now he has established 9 types of ledgers based on actual conditions.

After going from "layman" to "know-it-all," Zhang Zhenfeng began planning safety training so that more people in the township could master safety knowledge and skills.