Seoul City Conducts Special Inspection of Ozone Facilities... 21 Sites Caught

Inspection of 740 Business Sites in Seoul Including Gas Stations, Laundries, and Painting Facilities

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced on the 7th that it conducted special inspections on air emission facilities and volatile organic compound (VOCs) emission facilities by district for three months from June to September to reduce high-concentration ozone occurrences during the summer.

Ozone is generated through photochemical reactions of volatile organic compounds in the atmosphere and mainly occurs at high concentrations during the daytime in summer when sunlight is strong. The domestic air quality standards set the limit at an average of 0.1 ppm for 1 hour and 0.06 ppm for 8 hours.

This inspection was conducted by district on 527 VOC emission facilities such as gas stations and laundries, and 213 painting and printing facilities. The main inspection items included whether emission facilities were reported, measurement of emission concentration and compliance with record-keeping, and proper installation of prevention facilities.

As a result of the inspection, violations were found at 21 out of a total of 740 sites, and the Seoul Metropolitan Government took 36 administrative actions including fines and improvement orders. Major violations included failure to replace activated carbon in prevention facilities on schedule, resulting in high VOC emission concentrations, and falsification or omission of operation records of prevention facilities.

Since ozone concentrations mainly increase during the summer, Seoul plans to continuously inspect VOC emission facilities during the summer season to strengthen air quality management. In addition, to raise awareness of the importance of reducing VOC emissions, promotional materials on the harmfulness of ozone and workplace response guidelines will be provided during facility inspections.

Hadongjun, Director of the Air Policy Division of Seoul, said, “We will inform business owners about the importance of ozone management in summer and ask for their efforts to reduce emissions,” adding, “We will do our best to reduce high-concentration ozone occurrences during the summer season.”

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