The Taipei High Administrative Court has ruled in favor of an order to strip petrochemical product maker LCY Chemical Corp (李長榮化學) of three safety management certificates in a case linked to a series of deadly gas explosions in Kaohsiung in 2014.
The court ruled that LCY failed to enforce the Factory Management Act (工廠管理輔導法) at its workplace, and failed to maintain, repair and conduct required safety checks on the underground pipelines that it purchased 30 years ago.
NEGLIGENCE
The negligence led to the deterioration of the pipelines and caused the explosions that killed 32 people and injured 321, the court said.
Citing the damage caused by the blast, the court ruled against a request by LCY to reverse an order by the Ministry of Economic Affairs to revoke the company’s safety certifications.
The ruling can be appealed.
On July 31, 2014, a section of an underground propylene pipeline owned by LCY fractured as a chemical substance was being piped to the company’s Dashe (大社) plant in Kaohsiung, causing multiple explosions that ripped through several sections of the city.
REVOKED
Following the incident, the Bureau of Standards, Metrology and Inspection revoked LCY’s safety management certificates and voided their registration numbers.
The company’s ISO 14001 environmental management system, OHSAS 18001 occupational safety and health management system, and Taiwan Occupational Safety and Health Management System certificates were revoked.
The bureau also ordered LCY to return the certificates.
UNDER LOCK AND KEY
Refusing to obey, LCY filed the lawsuit, saying that the pipeline was more than 20km away from its Dashe factory and that it was laid by state-run CPC Corp, Taiwan (CPC, 台灣中油) along with other pipelines owned by CPC and the China Petrochemical Development Corp (中石化).
LCY said that only CPC had a map of the pipeline network and keys to underground maintenance stations, adding that LCY would not be allowed to conduct safety inspections or maintenance even if it wanted to do so.
“LCY Chemical is nothing but the owner of the pipeline blamed for the explosions,” the company said.
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