A fire and subsequent explosions at Launch Technologies Co’s (明揚國際) golf ball factory at Pingtung Technology Industrial Park (屏東科技產業園區) on Friday killed at least nine people, prompting questions over how such a catastrophe could have occurred.
Despite how near Pingtung is to Kaohsiung, the industries of these two places are drastically different. Kaohsiung is an industrial hub, whereas Pingtung relies on agriculture.
Although Pingtung might be less polluted, it also has fewer job opportunities. The Pingtung County Government, with support from the central government, has arranged a series of measures to revitalize local industries, including the establishment of low polluting industrial parks with high technology and agriculture firms. Since the opening of the parks, the factories inside have been monitored in accordance to strict regulations. No corporation should cause safety problems or environmental damage.
Pingtung Technology Industrial Park is conveniently located near Kaoping Bridge (高屏大橋). The factories in the park are supposed to be low-polluting ones, as essentially any factory not listed on the Ministry of Economic Affairs’ “low-pollution industries list” can be defined as such.
Launch Technologies Co’s plant is not on the ministry’s list, as the materials it uses to manufacture golf balls are not hazardous. Nearby residents had never protested against the factory, nor was it difficult for the corporation to hire workers. It is indeed surprising that such a disaster could have happened.
While the cause of the fire is under investigation, initial findings suggest it was triggered by a leak of volatile chemicals. Some chemicals can be categorized as stable, but once exposed to vibrations or contact with light or elements such as water, a chemical reaction can result, which can be exothermic and even lead to an explosion.
When trying to extinguish a fire, the cause of the blaze must be understood to determine which method should be used, such as dry powder extinguishers or water.
In addition to chemical factors, attention should be given to physical ones. Nanoparticles can create such physical factors. In a confined space, if the concentration of some small particles reaches its maximum, a dust explosion can occur. A similar explosion once happened in a Japanese rice barn. Another example is the 2015 explosion and fire during a party at Formosa Fun Coast (八仙海岸) water park, which kill 15 people and injured nearly 500.
When using chemicals, all corporations should refer to material safety data sheets. The documents lay out each substance’s chemical and physical properties, and toxicity, as well as proper storage and management procedures. Factories should follow these guidelines, while local fire service agencies should also understand such information. Only in doing so can the correct measures be implemented when a catastrophe occurs.
Meanwhile, people should not rely on the authorities to revise the laws and unnecessarily regulate matters after each incident, as that can inconvenience industries. Corporations and factories should be able to manage themselves, and people in the industry typically know much more about the raw materials and substances they use than government officials. The companies should take the responsibility to educate and train their employees to understand the characteristics of the materials they use. After all, it is a corporation’s fundamental duty to protect the safety of its employees.
Chen Wen-ching works in environmental services.
Translated by Emma Liu
In their recent op-ed “Trump Should Rein In Taiwan” in Foreign Policy magazine, Christopher Chivvis and Stephen Wertheim argued that the US should pressure President William Lai (賴清德) to “tone it down” to de-escalate tensions in the Taiwan Strait — as if Taiwan’s words are more of a threat to peace than Beijing’s actions. It is an old argument dressed up in new concern: that Washington must rein in Taipei to avoid war. However, this narrative gets it backward. Taiwan is not the problem; China is. Calls for a so-called “grand bargain” with Beijing — where the US pressures Taiwan into concessions
The term “assassin’s mace” originates from Chinese folklore, describing a concealed weapon used by a weaker hero to defeat a stronger adversary with an unexpected strike. In more general military parlance, the concept refers to an asymmetric capability that targets a critical vulnerability of an adversary. China has found its modern equivalent of the assassin’s mace with its high-altitude electromagnetic pulse (HEMP) weapons, which are nuclear warheads detonated at a high altitude, emitting intense electromagnetic radiation capable of disabling and destroying electronics. An assassin’s mace weapon possesses two essential characteristics: strategic surprise and the ability to neutralize a core dependency.
Chinese President and Chinese Communist Party (CCP) Chairman Xi Jinping (習近平) said in a politburo speech late last month that his party must protect the “bottom line” to prevent systemic threats. The tone of his address was grave, revealing deep anxieties about China’s current state of affairs. Essentially, what he worries most about is systemic threats to China’s normal development as a country. The US-China trade war has turned white hot: China’s export orders have plummeted, Chinese firms and enterprises are shutting up shop, and local debt risks are mounting daily, causing China’s economy to flag externally and hemorrhage internally. China’s
During the “426 rally” organized by the Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) and the Taiwan People’s Party under the slogan “fight green communism, resist dictatorship,” leaders from the two opposition parties framed it as a battle against an allegedly authoritarian administration led by President William Lai (賴清德). While criticism of the government can be a healthy expression of a vibrant, pluralistic society, and protests are quite common in Taiwan, the discourse of the 426 rally nonetheless betrayed troubling signs of collective amnesia. Specifically, the KMT, which imposed 38 years of martial law in Taiwan from 1949 to 1987, has never fully faced its
RSS