Fire Safety Requirements for Packaging Printing Plants - 4 Key Areas: Plant/Facilities/Materials/Channels/Electrical

The owner of a medium-sized printing factory in Wuxi, Old Song, experienced a fire in his workshop in March 2025, which burned for 2 hours, completely destroying the factory building, equipment, and raw materials. The subsequent accident report from the fire brigade stated that the cause was "electrical circuit short circuit igniting surrounding ink solvents." Old Song said, "In my 15 years of running a printing factory, no one ever told me that electrical circuits are the number one fire hazard—everyone thought that factory planning and fire partitions were the main focus."

The real cost of fire safety compliance for printing factories is a calculation that every printing factory owner must make, categorized into 4 types of requirements. Below, we break down each of these 4 hard requirements—each followed by the real cause of Old Song's accident.

Type 1: Factory Hard Requirements—Plan Once, or Tear It Down

Factory fire safety requirements are approved by the Planning Bureau + Housing and Construction Bureau during the initial construction, renovation, or expansion of the factory, including fire partitions, fire resistance ratings, area, height, and evacuation stairs.

• Fire partitions: Printing factory buildings are divided according to Class C (combustible solids, such as paper) and Class A (flammable liquids, such as inks, solvents). There is no maximum area limit for Class C workshops, while Class A cannot exceed 2000 ㎡ (for multi-story buildings)
• Fire resistance rating: The fire resistance limits of load-bearing walls, floors, beams, columns, and roof load-bearing components of printing factory buildings—Level 1 ≥2 hours, Level 2 ≥1.5 hours, Level 3 ≥1 hour
• Evacuation stairs: Each floor of the factory must have at least 2 evacuation stairs, with a width of ≥1.1m; evacuation stairs in Class A factories should be enclosed stairwells

Real cost: A 5000 ㎡ printing factory, designed with Class C factory fire partitions + Level 2 fire resistance rating, with fire facilities (sprinklers, smoke detectors, emergency lighting, fire pump room) installed, requires a one-time investment of 1-2 million CNY. This money is spent during the planning bureau's inspection, and if done wrong, it has to be demolished—Old Song said, "When my factory was newly built, I saved 300,000 CNY by not installing a sprinkler system, but the fire inspection failed, and I ended up spending 600,000 CNY to retrofit it. The cost cannot be cut, because if you do, you will pay double next time."

Type 2: Material Hard Requirements—The Flammability and Explosivity Levels of Inks/Solvents/Adhesives

Material fire safety requirements are inspected by the Emergency Management Bureau (Fire Brigade) during monthly and special inspections, including the storage and use of inks, solvents, adhesives, laminating adhesives, and cleaning agents.

• Inks: Water-based inks are classified as ordinary combustible solids, UV inks as ordinary liquids; solvent-based inks (offset resin inks) are classified as Class A flammable liquids
• Solvents: Ethanol, isopropanol, ethyl acetate are classified as Class A flammable liquids, with a flash point below 28℃, considered highly dangerous
• Adhesives: Water-based adhesives are classified as ordinary solids; solvent-based adhesives (oil-based laminating adhesives) are classified as Class A flammable liquids

Real cost: The maximum storage limit for ink warehouses in printing factories is limited—if in a Class A factory, the ink warehouse storage cannot exceed 5 tons, and in a Class B factory, it cannot exceed 50 tons. The ink warehouse of printing factory owner Old Song was originally 12 tons (calculated as Class B), but during a fire brigade inspection, it was found that the ink warehouse and the workshop were in the same building, so it was calculated as Class A with a limit of 5 tons, resulting in a fine of 80,000 CNY + a 30-day rectification period.

The real pitfall for printing factory owners is: mixing solvent-based inks and UV inks—although UV inks are ordinary liquids, solvent-based inks are highly flammable liquids, and mixing them can cause cross-contamination and fire. The correct approach is to store them in separate warehouses, with the solvent warehouse at least 100 meters away.

Type 3: Channel Hard Requirements—On-Site Workshop Inspection, 80% of Printing Factory Accidents Occur Here

Channel fire safety requirements are inspected during daily on-site inspections of the workshop, including evacuation routes, emergency exits, emergency lighting, and evacuation signs.

• Evacuation routes: Width ≥1.4m (bidirectional passage), no items (semi-finished products, cardboard, pallets, paper scraps) can be placed
• Emergency exits: Each floor must have at least 2 emergency exits (in different directions), and they must not be locked or blocked
• Emergency lighting: Emergency lighting is set up in evacuation routes, stairwells, and emergency exits, with an emergency duration of ≥30 minutes and an illuminance of ≥1 lux
• Evacuation signs: Evacuation signs are set up at a height of ≤1m, with the direction pointing to the nearest emergency exit

Real cost: Printing factory owner Old Song said, "There were originally 3 semi-finished product pallets placed in the evacuation route of my workshop—it was always fine, but before the fire brigade inspection, I had the workers move them away. However, on March 12, 2025, during that fire, I was on the second floor of the workshop, and the semi-finished product pallets blocked the route, so I had to jump out of the window to escape. If the pallets hadn't blocked the way, I should have been able to walk out through the evacuation stairs."

The real calculation for printing factory owners: 1 workshop evacuation route rectification—clearing away semi-finished products, installing emergency lighting, installing evacuation signs, installing emergency exit indicator lights—one-time cost of 50,000-100,000 CNY, mainly for the electrical transformation of emergency lighting and signs. But if nothing happens, this money is saved, and if something does happen, it's all burned up.

Type 4: Electrical Hard Requirements—Explosion-Proof Electrical, Static Grounding, Firefighting Power Supply

Electrical fire safety requirements are inspected annually by the Fire Brigade + Third-Party Electrical Testing, including explosion-proof electrical, static grounding, firefighting power supply, and emergency lighting distribution.

• Explosion-proof electrical: Explosion-proof electrical equipment (Ex d IIB T4 grade) is used around ink warehouses, solvent warehouses, and UV curing machines; the use of ordinary electrical equipment (sockets, lamps, switches) is prohibited
• Static grounding: Ink barrels, solvent barrels, and UV curing machine housings are connected to static grounding wires (≤4Ω) to prevent static electricity from igniting ink solvents
• Firefighting power supply: Fire pumps, emergency lighting, and fire alarms use an independent power supply (dual power supply switching + battery backup), providing continuous power for ≥2 hours during a fire

Real cost: The cause of Old Song's accident was "electrical circuit short circuit igniting surrounding ink solvents"—specifically, the power cord of the UV curing machine was aged, the insulation layer was damaged, and the metal wire was exposed; there were ink trays nearby that were not cleaned in time, and the residual solvent volatilized flammable gas that encountered the electric spark and ignited. The rectification cost 400,000 CNY—replacing the UV curing machine power cord, adding explosion-proof distribution boxes, adding static grounding, and adding combustible gas concentration alarms to the ink warehouse.

This is the electrical fire safety calculation that printing factory owners must make—1 UV curing machine power cord needs to be replaced every 3 years, costing 10,000 CNY for the replacement; one explosion-proof distribution box costs 5,000-10,000 CNY; a static grounding system covering the entire workshop costs 50,000-100,000 CNY; one combustible gas concentration alarm costs 2,000-5,000 CNY. The total one-time investment is 150,000-250,000 CNY, with annual maintenance and testing costs of 30,000-50,000 CNY.

How Much Do Printing Factory Owners Really Spend on Fire Safety Each Year

Old Song calculates the annual fire safety cost:

• Factory planning + facilities (one-time 1-2 million CNY amortized over 10 years): 100,000-200,000 CNY/year
• Ink/solvent warehouse rectification + maintenance: 50,000-80,000 CNY/year
• Channels + emergency lighting + evacuation signs: 30,000-50,000 CNY/year
• Electrical + explosion-proof + static grounding + testing: 30,000-50,000 CNY/year

Total 210,000-380,000 CNY/year. This is higher than the cost of GB 4806 compliance for sanitation.

But Old Song said, "If this money had been invested initially, the fire in 2025 would not have happened. I lost 8 million CNY in factory, equipment, and raw materials, and was shut down for 3 months—the money spent on fire safety is not a cost, it's insurance."

4 Things Printing Factory Owners Must Do Every Year

1. Self-inspection of the factory: Check if the fire partitions have been compromised, if the fire-resistant components have been altered, if the evacuation stairs are enclosed
2. Inventory of materials: Check if the ink/solvent inventory exceeds the limit, if the warehouses are stored separately, if there are flammable and explosive labels
3. Channel inspection: Check the evacuation routes once a week, if semi-finished products are placed in the routes, if the emergency lighting is on
4. Annual electrical inspection: Hire a third-party electrical testing agency to issue an electrical fire safety inspection report (1 report costs 10,000-20,000 CNY), rectify explosion-proof, grounding, and power supply issues

Once these 4 things are done, the fire safety account is stable—if nothing happens, you save 8 million CNY, if something does happen, even 1 million CNY cannot make up for it.

Extended Reading

• 3 Hard Indicators for Water Treatment in Packaging Printing Plants
• 4 Types of Waste Recycling Data for Packaging Printing Plants
• 3 Types of Processes for VOCs Treatment in Packaging Printing Plants
• 3 Hard Indicators for Occupational Health in Packaging Printing Plants