Starting June 4, Hanwha Aerospace announced it would halt operations at all production lines, except for essential processes, to conduct special safety inspections and training. The inspections will take place over two days, concluding on June 5.
The affected sites include the Daejeon, Chungbuk Boeun, and Jeonnam Yeosu plants, which produce propellants and detonators, as well as the Changwon plants 1, 2, and 3, which manufacture K9 self-propelled howitzers, armored vehicles, and aircraft engines. The inspections will also cover the Daejeon, Pangyo, and Asan research and development campuses, totaling nine facilities nationwide.
This marks the first time since the establishment of the integrated corporation in 2023 that Hanwha Aerospace has simultaneously halted production across all its sites. The company stated that it prioritized ensuring a safe working environment over production continuity to prevent risks similar to those that led to the recent Daejeon incident.
Industry insiders interpret this production halt as a response to the safety management controversies that have arisen following the accident. According to Hanwha Aerospace's 2025 Sustainability Management Report, the safety and health investment budget for 2024 was 3.5 billion won, representing only 0.03% of total sales (11.24 trillion won). This figure is a 51.4% decrease from the 7.2 billion won allocated for safety in 2023.
Hanwha Aerospace will conduct a comprehensive review of fire and explosion hazards, major accident risks, unsafe conditions and facilities, risk assessment results, and domestic and international accident cases at each facility. The company will reassess machinery, working environments, and structural conditions, as well as verify the implementation of improvement measures and recurrence prevention strategies based on risk assessments conducted over the past three years.
Particularly at the Daejeon, Boeun, and Yeosu plants, which handle explosives, the inspections will focus on the use of personal protective equipment, grounding systems, humidity and temperature control, tool management, and the condition of safety equipment. The facilities will also review the management of storage and disposal of explosives and conduct emergency response training based on hypothetical scenarios.
Additionally, Hanwha Aerospace is considering expanding automation in the production and handling processes of propellants to achieve zero safety incidents in the long term, even for processes deemed to have lower risk.
On June 4 and 5, special safety training will be provided to employees, sharing similar accident cases from both domestic and international contexts, educating on the right to stop work in urgent situations, and revising emergency response plans for each organization.
A Hanwha Aerospace official stated, "This integrated safety inspection is being conducted to reassess the origins of the accident."
Meanwhile, in light of the recent incident, Hanwha Group has decided to conduct thorough environmental and safety inspections at its petrochemical subsidiaries, including Hanwha, Hanwha Solutions, Hanwha TotalEnergies, Hanwha Impact, and YNCC, across domestic and international operations.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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