Hanwha Aerospace Halts All Production Lines for Two Days for Special Safety Inspection

Nine Domestic Facilities to Halt Operations Until June 5
Unmanned Automation Expansion Considered for Explosives-Handling Sites
Safety Inspections Extended to Petrochemical Affiliates Including Hanwha Solutions

Hanwha Aerospace will halt production lines at all its nationwide facilities for two days and conduct a special safety inspection in response to the recent accident at its Daejeon plant. This is the first time all operations have been suspended simultaneously since the establishment of the integrated corporation.

On the morning of the 3rd, after the identification of the deceased in the explosion accident at the Hanwha Aerospace Daejeon plant was completed, Jaeil Son, CEO of Hanwha Aerospace, spoke to the press after meeting the bereaved families twice at a funeral hall in a hospital in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon. Photo by Yonhap News

Starting June 4, Hanwha Aerospace announced that it will suspend all production lines except for certain essential processes, while conducting a special safety inspection and safety training. This measure, overseen by each site director and site safety manager, will continue until June 5.

As a result, nine facilities across the country—including the Daejeon, Boeun in North Chungcheong, and Yeosu in South Jeolla plants producing propellants and charges, as well as the Changwon 1, 2, and 3 plants in South Gyeongsang manufacturing K-9 self-propelled howitzers, armored vehicles, and aircraft engines, alongside R&D campuses in Daejeon, Pangyo, and Asan—will suspend operations for two days to carry out special safety inspections and conduct safety training for employees.

This is Hanwha Aerospace’s first simultaneous shutdown of production lines since the launch of the integrated corporation in 2023 (formed by integrating Aero, Hanwha Defense, and the defense division of Hanwha Corporation). The company explained that securing a safe workplace environment takes priority over potential partial production disruptions caused by the shutdown.

Hanwha Aerospace plans to use this opportunity to establish and implement a comprehensive, high-intensity safety innovation plan.

First, all worksites will undergo thorough inspections focused on the following areas: fire and explosion hazards, risk factors for serious industrial accidents, unsafe conditions and facilities, risk assessments, and previous accident cases. This will include re-inspections of machinery, working environments, and structures, as well as reviews of recent three-year risk assessment improvement measures and the status of recurrence prevention actions.

In particular, the Daejeon, Boeun, and Yeosu sites, which handle explosives, will inspect all processes, including personal protective equipment by workspace, grounding, temperature and humidity conditions, tool management, and the aging of safety equipment, as well as storage and waste explosive management. Emergency response drills will also be conducted for each workspace based on specific emergency scenarios.

Hanwha Aerospace has also decided to pursue unmanned automation in all processes related to propellant production and handling at these three sites to achieve zero safety accidents. While unmanned systems have already been introduced or are under construction in some high-risk processes, the company plans to review and implement unmanned automation even in processes previously considered low-risk.

For two days, Hanwha Aerospace will also provide special safety training for its employees. Each site will deliver training on similar domestic and international accident cases and the right to stop work in the face of imminent danger, while reorganizing emergency response plans by organizational unit.

Additionally, precision inspections will be carried out at all domestic and overseas sites of petrochemical affiliates—including Hanwha Corporation, Hanwha Solutions, Hanwha TotalEnergies, Hanwha Impact, and YNCC. Each company will form its own inspection team, led by the CEO, by June 10 to conduct comprehensive inspections of on-site safety management, production processes, and environmental aspects.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.