High Risk of Accidents Involving 'Sulfuric Acid, Hydrochloric Acid, Sodium Hydroxide' in Industrial Complexes

Central 119 Rescue Headquarters Publishes Chemical Accident On-Site Response Manual

A participant is passing through a decontamination chamber during a chemical accident drill conducted within an industrial complex.

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Among the chemical substances handled in national industrial complexes nationwide, sulfuric acid, hydrochloric acid, and sodium hydroxide were analyzed to have the highest risk of accidents.

The Central 119 Rescue Headquarters of the National Fire Agency announced on the 15th that this result came from analyzing the amount of hazardous materials handled and the number of accidents over the past three years at 4,415 business sites located in national industrial complexes.

Sulfuric acid was handled at about 2,500 business sites with a total volume of approximately 17 million tons, ranking second in terms of handling volume, and recorded 15 chemical accidents over the past three years, ranking third in the number of accidents.

Hydrochloric acid was handled at about 2,000 business sites with approximately 12 million tons, ranking fourth in handling volume, but it had the highest number of chemical accidents among chemical substances with 28 cases over three years.

Sodium hydroxide was used at about 3,300 business sites with approximately 18 million tons, ranking first in handling volume, but no chemical accidents occurred over the past three years. However, it was identified as a substance that always requires preparedness for accidents due to its high potential risk.

In addition, toluene, nitric acid, ammonia, benzene, hydrogen peroxide, methyl alcohol, and mercury were also recognized as hazardous when considering the amount handled by companies and the number of chemical accidents. In particular, most mercury accidents occurred due to broken thermometers in school science labs, so the National Fire Agency explained that teachers and students need to be cautious.

When chemical accidents occur accompanied by fire or explosion, it is often difficult to accurately identify the causative substance in the early stages of the accident. Therefore, responding agencies prepare equipment and countermeasures in advance according to the type of chemical substance, such as explosiveness/flammability, toxicity and carcinogenicity, harmfulness, and environmental pollution risk.

The Central 119 Rescue Headquarters plans to publish a "Chemical Accident On-Site Response Manual," which includes accident types by chemical substance, response procedures, spill/leak control, detection methods, and decontamination, and distribute it to fire stations nationwide within this month for practical use.

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