Police investigate fire at POSCO steel mill
Black smoke billows from the stainless plant inside POSCO's steel mill in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, Saturday. / Yonhap
By Jun Ji-hye
Police and fire authorities are investigating a fire at POSCO's steel mill in Pohang, North Gyeongsang Province, officials said Sunday.
The blaze, which engulfed a stainless steel production plant at 12:30 p.m., Saturday, was extinguished about two hours later, after destroying part of the 500-square-meter factory.
No casualties were reported as employees left the site immediately.
“We are working on finding the cause of the fire and scale of damage,” a police official said.
Police and fire authorities believe the fire started when sparks from welding machines ignited nearby inflammable materials, officials noted, adding that they were questioning people in charge of the factory.
After the fire was reported to the fire station, authorities sent about 30 fire engines and 400 firefighters, as well as ambulances, to the scene.
A POSCO official said, “The fire did not cause any disruption to our overall production as the factory where the fire broke out was under maintenance.”
The nation's top steelmaker has been embroiled in controversies over frequent industrial accidents at its steel mills.
On Jan. 25, 2018, four contract workers suffocated after a nitrogen leak at an oxygen plant inside the Pohang mill. The accident happened while the workers were replacing material used at the facility.
After the accident, the company vowed in May that year to allocate 1.105 trillion won ($919 million) to its safety budget for the next three years to improve safety.
The measures included setting up a department in charge of workers' safety and strengthening safety education.
But deadly accidents have continued, including the death of a worker who was stuck in a crane on Feb. 2 last year.
POSCO operates steel mills in Pohang in North Gyeongsang Province and Gwangyang in South Jeolla Province.
Last December, at least five employees were injured in explosions at the Gwangyang plant.
There were two explosions within five minutes, and the resulting fire was extinguished about 20 minutes later.