By Kim Hyun-bin
Police officers raided POSCO's plant in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, Friday, confiscating documents and other materials linked to a deadly gas leak that killed four workers last week.
The search and seizure targeted the steelmaker's field offices, oxygen plant and operations cab. The cab is the control tower for automated nitrogen gas pipelines.
Pohang Nambu Police Station said 10 investigators were sent to the oxygen plant to confiscate all items related to the leak including computers, communication devices and operation manuals.
The oxygen plant is designed to generate oxygen and provide air to a blast furnace.
Along with the confiscated material, police are waiting for the results of the National Forensic Service's investigation into the nitrogen leak to uncover those responsible for the incident.
Police suspect the deceased might have breathed in nitrogen gas from the leak.
Two management level employees have been indicted without detention for professional negligence resulting in death. Four other employees have been questioned to find the exact cause of the leak.
Operations cab officials are in charge of overseeing and adjusting the flow of the gas, however, the officials were deemed negligent in closing a valve, even after the inflow of nitrogen was detected in the cooling tower.
The four workers died Jan. 25 from the nitrogen leak at the oxygen plant inside Pohang steel factory.
Bereaved families recently held funerals for the deceased after a compensation agreement was reached with POSCO.
The Daegu Regional Employment and Labor Administration has been conducting an inspection since Monday on POSCO's 38 plants, 56 subcontractors and other business partners. The probe will continue for the next two weeks, it said.
Police officers raided POSCO's plant in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, Friday, confiscating documents and other materials linked to a deadly gas leak that killed four workers last week.
The search and seizure targeted the steelmaker's field offices, oxygen plant and operations cab. The cab is the control tower for automated nitrogen gas pipelines.
Pohang Nambu Police Station said 10 investigators were sent to the oxygen plant to confiscate all items related to the leak including computers, communication devices and operation manuals.
The oxygen plant is designed to generate oxygen and provide air to a blast furnace.
Along with the confiscated material, police are waiting for the results of the National Forensic Service's investigation into the nitrogen leak to uncover those responsible for the incident.
Police suspect the deceased might have breathed in nitrogen gas from the leak.
Two management level employees have been indicted without detention for professional negligence resulting in death. Four other employees have been questioned to find the exact cause of the leak.
Operations cab officials are in charge of overseeing and adjusting the flow of the gas, however, the officials were deemed negligent in closing a valve, even after the inflow of nitrogen was detected in the cooling tower.
The four workers died Jan. 25 from the nitrogen leak at the oxygen plant inside Pohang steel factory.
Bereaved families recently held funerals for the deceased after a compensation agreement was reached with POSCO.
The Daegu Regional Employment and Labor Administration has been conducting an inspection since Monday on POSCO's 38 plants, 56 subcontractors and other business partners. The probe will continue for the next two weeks, it said.



































