Hanwha Aero's Daejeon factory explodes again after 568 violations found in two special inspections

The fatal explosion at Hanwha Aerospace's Daejeon factory that killed five workers has renewed scrutiny of past special inspections conducted by labor authorities at the site.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor carried out two special inspections following back-to-back explosions in 2018 and 2019, uncovering 568 violations and issuing 334 fines. Yet major accidents have continued to occur, prompting calls for a fundamental overhaul of the facility's entire safety management system.

According to special inspection reports the ministry released Tuesday, both inspections found the same recurring problems at Hanwha's Daejeon facility: a dysfunctional safety and health management system, inadequate worker training and poor process safety management (PSM) operations.

In May 2018, an explosion during propellant-filling work at the facility killed three workers and injured six. A special inspection launched immediately after found 486 violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act — 25 in management, 87 in safety, 108 in health and 266 in PSM. Of those, 126 cases were referred for criminal prosecution, and fines totaling 261.56 million won (about $173,000) were levied across 322 cases.

Labor authorities concluded at the time that the facility's safety and health management system had in effect ceased to function. The inspection report stated that "the environmental safety team lacks recognition and authority, resulting in an absence of overall management of worker safety and health." Despite handling hazardous materials, the facility employed only one health manager, and workplace environment monitoring, health checkups and management of material safety data sheets (MSDS) were found to be largely perfunctory.

Worker safety training was equally deficient. Inspectors found that training was conducted by unqualified personnel, that required hours were not met, and that mandatory special safety training had not been carried out in some cases. Numerous violations were also found involving the handling of explosives, oxidizers and various chemicals without proper warning labels or MSDS instruction.

The ministry said PSM standards fell well short of expectations for a high-risk facility producing explosives and propellants. The facility's PSM rating was downgraded from M+ to M- following the accident. Inspectors identified a string of problems directly linked to explosion prevention: improperly issued work permits, inadequate internal audits, insufficient follow-up on near-miss incidents and errors in equipment classification.

Just nine months later, in February 2019, another explosion struck the facility, killing three more workers.

The second special inspection yielded similarly troubling results. Authorities found 82 legal violations and issued 208 improvement recommendations. Administrative measures included 53 criminal referrals, 28 fines totaling 126.05 million won, one suspension order and 75 corrective orders.

The ministry cited negligence by the person responsible for overall safety and health management, inadequate performance by safety managers and insufficient worker safety training. Inspectors also found unaddressed fall and tip-over hazards, pressure vessels that had not undergone mandatory safety inspections, non-compliance with process safety reports, missing workplace environment measurements, unperformed special health checkups, and poor management of confined spaces and chemical substances.

The 2019 report directly identified systemic failures in safety management as a core cause of the explosion. The ministry warned that fire and explosion risks were ever-present in actual production processes due to chemical substances, equipment defects and unsafe worker behavior, and ordered safety diagnostics and corrective action.

Taken together, the two special inspections revealed not isolated on-site errors but structural failures across the entire safety and health management system. The 486 violations found in 2018 and the 82 found in 2019 add up to 568 in total, with fines issued in 350 cases.

Despite all of this, another explosion struck the Daejeon facility on Monday, killing five workers. The death toll from explosions at this single site now stands at 11 over the past eight years — three in 2018, three in 2019 and five in 2026.

Labor groups have criticized the latest disaster as the direct result of a failure to address problems flagged repeatedly in past special inspections. Calls for accountability are growing, particularly because deficiencies in PSM and safety training were cited in both previous inspections.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor and police are investigating the cause of the accident as well as whether the employer and management fulfilled their obligations to ensure worker safety and health. Applying the aggravated punishment provisions of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act is expected to be difficult, but the facility's history of repeated accidents and the findings of past special inspections are likely to serve as key evidence in the investigation and any subsequent trial.

A ministry official said the agency is also reviewing whether corrective measures ordered after previous special inspections were actually carried out. "We plan to conduct a comprehensive investigation into the facility's overall safety management system, including potential violations of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act," the official said.