Safety science as a new discipline in China

The practice and study of safety science in China has a long and prolific history. In China, safety science originated in the early 1950s, soon after the establishment of the People’s Republic of China (PRC) in 1949. However, the more complete concept, research and practice of safety science were defined after the late 1970s, when China started its full-scale drive for economic reform and policy of openness. In the past decades, particularly in the 21st century, with the support of and encouragement from the Chinese government, safety science in China has undergone many changes and has been developed such that it is now becoming an independent discipline and an important research and practice field. Evidently, the research and practice of safety science in China has been fruitful. However, this was not well known to the world because most of the works addressing safety science were published or introduced in Chinese. Focusing on the discipline level of safety science, this paper provides a complete overview of safety science in China from five perspectives, namely, history, legislation, education, research, and prospects. The paper attempts to promote the cooperation and exchange between China and other countries to provide effective evidence-based services for the development of safety science in countries across the world. However, more detailed research on China’s safety science should be carried out for a deeper understanding of China’s work safety research and development.