Rescuers march during an emergency drill in east China's Shanghai, June 3, 2020. A comprehensive emergency drill was held in Xuhui District of Shanghai on Wednesday. (Xinhua/Fang Zhe)

Emergency management authorities are to offer cash rewards for "whistle-blowers" who report hidden dangers which could lead to major accidents or production safety violations, triggering the public to reflect on the whistle-blower mechanism of the country in other fields. 

If the tip-offs offered by whistle-blowers at production and operations firms are verified, they could receive a cash reward from 3,000 yuan ($421) up to 300,000 yuan ($42,160). The Ministry of Emergency Management (MOEM) will also provide special rewards if their tip-offs directly avoid an accident which could have caused fatalities, according to a draft regulation by the ministry on Wednesday. The draft was released to solicit public opinion. 

Besides whistle-blowers, the ministry is mulling whether it should recruit "informants" in industries such as mining, chemical plants, firework producers and metal smelters. These insiders would help the ministry track hidden safety violations and loopholes at those enterprises on a regular basis, via special connection channels. 

The establishment of a whistle-blower mechanism was firstly raised by China's State Council in September last year in a suggestion that stated information providers would be rewarded and protected under such a mechanism.

The term "whistle-blower" has become popular in China since the COVID-19 pandemic broke out. Doctor Zhang Jixian, was deemed a whistle-blower who was a local doctor in Wuhan was the first to report the cases of pneumonia of unknown cause before the outbreak.

China has advocated policies equivalent to a whistle-blower mechanism intended to encourage people to identify and reveal misbehaviors in their workplace, such as universities and government departments, for a long time. 

However, the mechanism is not yet fully established due to the lack of protection for informers, said Zhi Zhenfeng, a legal expert at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences in Beijing.

A real whistle-blower is someone with a sense of justice who cares about public interests, so a money-driven mechanism may not represent their own interests, Zhi told the Global Times on Thursday, noting an adequate mechanism which protects their own safety and interests is what really matters.

Addressing the issue of the identity of whistle-blowers being exposed or subject to retaliation, the MOEM said in the draft that the legal rights of informers will be well protected. 

"Only by safeguarding their rights will their motivation to offer tip-offs be increased and thus improve the safety production of operations in turn," the draft said. 

Staff who deal with tip-offs will be held legally responsible if they leak whistle blowers and informants' names and contacts in any form. If production operations are found to have retaliated against informers, they will also face punishment from the ministry. 

Zhi said the ministry needs to further detail the protection mechanism for whistle blowers, which includes helping to change their job and providing personal safety measures if they face retaliation or their identify is exposed. The punishment mechanism for leaking information of informers also needs to be addressed properly. 

The intention of officially encouraging a whistle blower to report safety violations within their own firms triggered heated debate among the Chinese public, with many saying there is a sense of distrust over the whistleblowing policy. Some echoed what Zhi said, calling for more supplementary legal regulations to make the whistleblowing mechanism work.

According to the MOEM, whistle blowers must be formally contracted to the business and must provide their real names and contact information. If they receive a cash reward, they will have to hand in copies of their ID and work contract. 

Encouraging informers to offer information on hidden dangers at production companies started in 2018, but the regulation did not distinguish between public tip-offs and tip-offs offered by employees within the company, the ministry said.

Hidden perils which could cause a major accident refers to dangers that are severe, and can only be removed after a certain time of rectification, either by completely suspending businesses or partially suspending businesses, or dangers caused by external factors which cannot be prevented by the businesses itself.

Authorities will release standards on how to judge the hidden dangers of industries such as coal mining. "Production safety violations" refers to behavior which violates laws, regulations and industry professional standards.  

In 2019, there were 170 fatal accidents and 316 deaths in coal mines nationwide, a year-on-year decrease of 24.1 percent and 5.1 percent respectively, data released by the MOEM said.