Hanwha Aerospace is fully suspending operation of its production lines and conducting special safety inspections. The move is part of its response to the explosion at the Daejeon site that left seven people dead or injured.

Hanwha Aerospace said that for two days starting on the 4th it will take this measure at nine domestic sites, excluding certain essential processes. The targets are the Daejeon, Boeun in North Chungcheong, and Yeosu in South Jeolla sites that produce propellants and charges, and the R&D campuses in Changwon 1~3 in South Gyeongsang, Daejeon, Seongnam in Gyeonggi, and Asan in South Chungcheong, which produce K9 self-propelled howitzers, armored vehicles, and aircraft engines.

Hanwha Aerospace said it plans comprehensive checks at the nine sites for fire and explosion risks, serious industrial accident hazards, risk assessments, and past cases. It will also reexamine machinery, work environments, and structures. The status of corrective measures from risk assessment results over the past three years and the implementation of recurrence prevention measures will also be reviewed.

In particular, at the Daejeon, Boeun, and Yeosu sites that handle explosives, checks will cover protective equipment by room, grounding, temperature and humidity, tooling management, and aging of safety equipment. They will also verify the condition of storage facilities and the management of waste explosives.

Hanwha Aerospace explained, “For these three sites, to achieve zero safety accidents (0), we have set a policy for unmanned automation of processes related to propellant production and handling and have begun a review.”

It is the first time since the integrated corporation was launched in 2023 that Hanwha Aerospace has simultaneously halted production lines at multiple sites. Hanwha Aerospace said, “This measure was taken based on the judgment that securing a safe workplace environment is the top priority over some production disruptions caused by suspending operations, in order to fundamentally prevent risks like the Daejeon site accident.”

Special safety training for employees will also be carried out in parallel. At each site, training will cover similar cases at home and abroad and the right to stop work in the face of imminent danger.

At the group level, Hanwha Group ordered detailed environment and safety inspections at all domestic and overseas sites of petrochemical affiliates including Hanwha Corporation, Hanwha Solutions, Hanwha TotalEnergies, and Hanwha Impact. Each company will form an in-house inspection team led by the CEO by the 10th.