The explosion that killed five workers at Hanwha Aerospace's Daejeon plant on the 1st has drawn renewed attention to past special inspections conducted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor at the same site.
The ministry carried out two special inspections in 2018 and 2019 after a series of explosions at the Daejeon plant. At the time, labor authorities identified a total of 568 violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and other laws, citing poor process safety management (PSM) and inadequate safety and health management systems as key problems.
According to the 2018 and 2019 special inspection reports released by the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 2nd, the legal violations identified across the two inspections totaled 568.
The first special inspection followed an explosion during a propellant fueling operation at the Daejeon plant in May 2018. The accident killed three workers and injured six. The ministry launched an inspection of the site and identified 486 violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
By category, PSM violations were the most common at 266 cases. Authorities also identified 108 violations in the health field, 87 in safety, and 25 in management. Of these, 126 cases were subject to criminal prosecution, and fines totaling 261.56 million won were imposed for 322 cases.
The ministry concluded at the time that the site's safety and health management system was not functioning properly. The report stated that the authority and role of the environmental safety team were limited, restricting its ability to comprehensively manage worker safety and health.
The inspection also identified numerous failures to provide legally mandated safety training, inadequate management of chemical substances, and poor management of material safety data sheets (MSDS). Authorities pointed out that PSM operations were insufficient despite the site being a high-risk facility producing explosives and propellants. The ministry determined that overall improvements were needed in areas including safety work permit management, internal audits, follow-up measures for near-miss incidents, and equipment management.
However, another explosion occurred at the same site the following year. In February 2019, a second explosion at the Daejeon plant killed three workers, prompting the ministry to launch a second special inspection.
The second inspection identified 82 legal violations and 208 improvement recommendations. Fifty-three cases were subject to criminal prosecution, and fines totaling 126.05 million won were imposed in 28 cases. Administrative measures included one use-suspension order and 75 corrective orders.
At the time, the ministry pointed to the inadequate oversight by the safety and health management officer, insufficient performance of duties by safety managers, and poor worker safety training. Non-compliance with the process safety report, failure to conduct safety inspections of pressure vessels, and omissions in workplace environment measurements were also identified.
Combining the 486 violations identified in the 2018 special inspection with the 82 identified in 2019, total legal violations reached 568. Administrative fine actions across the two inspections amounted to about 350 cases.
The problem is that many of the issues flagged in the past special inspections were directly relevant to preventing explosions. Poor PSM operation, inadequate safety training, and deficient safety and health management systems were repeatedly cited in both inspections.
Despite these warnings, another major explosion has now occurred this year following those in 2018 and 2019, raising calls to examine whether the improvement tasks identified at the time were sufficiently implemented on the ground. The Ministry of Employment and Labor and police are currently investigating the cause of the accident along with possible violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.
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