What happens if you neglect the guidelines?

Lithium metal battery maker Aricell suffered four fire breakouts at its factory in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi, before the deadly blaze last month that killed 23 people, mostly foreign migrant workers. The primary battery cells the company supplied to the Korean military caused three explosions over the last three years, and yet the company neglected the strong need to take safety actions.

According to the Gyeonggi Southern Provincial Policy Agency, which is investigating the Aricell inferno, the same factory had battled with fire twice in 2021, once in 2022 and just two days before the deadly one on June 24. Lithium battery cells caused all of the explosions. Defense Ministry documents show that the battery packs the company supplied to the Army blew up twice in 2022 and once last year.

Aricell would have been aware of the dangers in its manufacturing process and products, yet the factory lacked fire extinguishers designed to fight fires from combustible metals or alloys. More than 30,000 battery boxes were stacked around the exit of the factory, and migrant workers worked at the assembly line without proper safety training.

Authorities also must share the blame. In March, the province’s firefighting center reported finding life-threatening dangers in the third building of the Aricell factory, but then didn’t follow up with a remedial order when Aricell submitted an internal report in the following month stating that it found no danger. The Labor Ministry labeled the company a “high-risk” workplace for two straight years, but only asked for “voluntary action to correct the problem.” This proves that all disasters are man-made.

A fundamental problem is that a lithium-related fire lacks guidelines. Lithium is flammable under excessive heat and pressure, and flames caused by lithium can augment when mixed with water. The Education Ministry has not labeled lithium as a “hazardous chemical” on the grounds that it does not burn in normal temperatures. Although fire authorities are aware that metal eruptions cannot be tamed through standard extinguishers, they have not set guidelines on specialized extinguishers. Lithium battery manufacturing lines in general factories are excluded from regular oversight by fire authorities if a worksite does not exceed 30,000 square meters (322,917 square feet).

Authorities are scrambling to set precautionary and response guidelines against metal fires after the latest incident. The measures must not stop at mandating the installation of specialized fire extinguishers, but also include the reinforcement of safety regulations on metal fires and add battery makers and retailers to the list of companies for special inspection by fire authorities. Further negligence of duty cannot be pardoned.