Most of the important units of pressure equipment have been manufactured successfully in China related to the national key construction projects,such as 10 million tons/year oil refinery,million tons/year ethylene,large coal chemical,etc.However,some of them failed to operate shortly after their putting into service.Some suffered severe damage even during the previous period of manufacture and installation.In this paper,cases of accident survey and failure analysis are given for some typical pressure vessels.It is found that many accidents are related to insufficient consideration of the design and manufacture of the equipment.These accidents occur fundamentally because of the Chinese design standards & codes for pressure equipment without risk or life concepts and the support from a database for potential risk existing in their dynamic service.Most designers and manufacturers are unable to make correct design,materials selection and manufacturing process all due to a lack of engineering experience.In order to avoid the repetition of the accidents and improve the safety,reliability and economy of pressure equipment,a platform is suggested for design,manufacture and maintenance of pressure equipment in China based on accidents survey.In other words,some effective precautionary measures are taken at the design and manufacture stage,and the design methodology has to be based on service life requirement and desirable risk level.At the service stage some reasonable inspection/monitoring approaches should be utilized to control risks and ensure the equipment operating safely until its desired lifespan.Finally,the basic scheme and some key technologies are briefly given for the platform construction.The concept of risk and life based design,manufacture and maintenance proposed herein has important significance for improving and perfecting the codes and standards for design,manufacture and maintenance of Chinese pressure-bearing equipment,enhancing the life and reliability of Chinese pressure-bearing equipment and promoting the development of in-service maintenance technology that combines safety and economy. Most of the important units of pressure equipment have been manufactured successfully in China related to the national key construction projects, such as 10 million tons / year oil refinery, million tons / year ethylene, large coal chemical, etc.However, some of them failed to operate shortly after their putting into service.Some suffered severe damage even during the previous period of manufacture and installation.In this paper, cases of accident survey and failure analysis are given for some typical pressure vessels. to insufficient consideration of the design and manufacture of the equipment.These accidents occurred fundamentally because of the Chinese design standards & codes for pressure equipment without risk or life concepts and the support from a database for potential risk existing in their dynamic service .Most designers and manufacturers are unable to make correct design, materials selection and manufacturing process all due to a lack of engineeri ng experience.In order to avoid the repetition of the accidents and improve the safety, reliability and economy of pressure equipment, a platform is suggested for design, manufacture and maintenance of pressure equipment in China based on accidents survey.In other words, some effective precautionary measures are taken at the design and manufacture stage, and the design methodology has to be based on service life requirement and desirable risk level. At the service stage some reasonable inspection / monitoring approaches should be utilized to control risks and ensure the equipment operating safely until its desired lifespan. Finally, the basic scheme and some key technologies are briefly given for the platform construction. The concept of risk and life based design, manufacture and maintenance proposed herein has important significance for improving and perfecting the codes and standards for design, manufacture and maintenance of Chinese pressure-bearing equipment, enhancing the life and reliabilityof Chinese pressure-bearing equipment and promoting the development of in-service maintenance technology that combines safety and economy.