By Kim Rahn
The Sept. 27 hydrofluoric acid leak from a chemical plant in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province, has again shown poor management of poisonous chemicals by companies and lack of monitoring by authorities.
While such explosion at chemical factories takes place at least once a year, the government is urged to come up with preventive measures because such blasts bring about not only casualties but also health problems and huge damage to the ecosystem.
About a month before the Gumi accident, a drum containing dioxane exploded at a factory of LG Chem in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, on Aug. 23. Eight workers were killed, while another three were seriously injured and are still in hospital for treatment.
There were two such accidents last year as well. On Aug. 17, a Hyundai Engineering Plastics factory in Ulsan had fuel vapor explosion, which killed three employees and injured another five.
The factory had neither equipment to detect the leak of fuel vapor, nor other devices for safety. Three people in charge of safety were arrested.
Ten days later, heptane blast at a TK Chemical plant in Gumi killed seven people.
On March 1 in 2010, another explosion occurred at a factory of Poongsan Corp. in Gyeongju, North Gyeongsang Province, killing two workers. It destroyed the concrete wall of the factory, with the debris found at places 30 meters away from the plant.
A study conducted by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency last year on 131 companies in Ulsan chemical complex showed 20 percent of them were vulnerable to explosion or fire.
In many cases, such accidents cause secondary damage, as seen in the recent Gumi incident.
An explosion at a plant of Kolon Industries in Gimcheon, North Gyeongsang Province, on march 1 in 2008 not only killed two workers but also had the Nakdong River contaminated with phenol.
On the day after the accident, higher than permissible levels of the chemical were found in the river, which was the source of drinking water for residents in the province and Daegu, and the water supply in several cities there was suspended for hours. The level of the phenol in the water dropped soon afterwards.
As countermeasures against such chemical explosion, the Ministry of Environment said it will revise related laws to strengthen control of inflammables at chemical factories.
It also plans to tighten inspection on such plants.