Premier Wu Den-yih (吳敦義) yesterday urged Formosa Plastics Group (FPG) to tighten its internal controls after Sunday’s fire at Nan Ya Plastics Corp’s Second Plant in Taibao City (太保), Chiayi County.
“Over the past seven or eight years, there have been many industrial safety accidents of different magnitudes [at the group’s factories],” Wu said.
He also said he hoped the company would “take [Sunday’s] fire seriously.”
The premier’s comments came after media quoted Hong Fu-yuan (洪福源), the president of another group member, Formosa Chemicals & Fibre Corp, as saying that the Nan Ya factory did not alert the Chiayi fire department as soon as the fire broke out at about 9:30am.
It took firefighters almost 17 hours to extinguish the blaze. There were no reports of casualties.
The factory produces high-quality waterproof synthetic paper known as white pearl, or PEPA.
The fire dealt another blow to the group after two fires broke out in July at its petrochemical complex in Mailiao Township (麥寮), Yunlin County.
Wu said the government would create a task force to monitor the safety of the nation’s petrochemical industry and conduct a thorough safety assessment to prevent more accidents.
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