The role of local governments before and during chemical accidents, focusing on changes in hazardous chemical management systems

ABSTRACT

Disaster management spans actions before, during, and after disaster events. Changes in the roles and functions of local governments before a disaster can influence other stages of disaster management. After a chemical spill in 2012, South Korean hazardous chemical management tasks were returned to the central government and local governments’ roles and functions were reduced. To identify associated issues and enhance the hazardous chemical management system, this study analyzed changes in laws and policies and conducted interviews with stakeholders. While the changes helped with centralization, reinforcement, and specification, some loopholes were discovered. The information and human resource capacities of local governments and intra – and intergovernmental relations issues have hindered their active participation before and during chemical disasters. These loopholes can be addressed through institutional enhancements for local governments, such as including them in monitoring hazardous chemical handling facilities, developing codes articulating the division of tasks among departments within them, and providing adequate incentives for them to increase their personnel. This study provides empirical data that informs ongoing debates about the centralization and devolution of disaster management by linking local governments’ ordinary management systems to their disaster management activities.

KEYWORDS:

• Chemical accident
• hazardous chemical management
• local government
• capacity
• intergovernmental relations

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Notes on contributors

Hana Kim is an assistant professor of the Cooperate Course for Climate Change at Sejong University, South Korea. She received a B.Eng. Degree in Civil Engineering and an M.S. Degree in Urban Planning from Seoul National University, South Korea, and a Ph.D. in Energy and Environmental Policy from University of Delaware, United States. Her research interests are non-state stakeholders' responses to climate changes and environmental issues.

Jae-Ho Yoo is a graduate student at the Cooperate Course for Climate Change, Sejong University. He received a B.Eng. Degree in Energy IT at Gachon University, South Korea. His research interests are energy and environmental policies.

Sungheum Cho is a research professor at the Climate Change & Environment Research Center, Sejong University. His research interests are climate responses, energy transition, and environmental policies.

ORCID

Sungheum Cho http://orcid.org/0000-0002-9984-3192

Notes

1 In Korea, many people were exposed to humidifier disinfectants in 2011, resulting in deaths. As of May 17, 2019, 6,389 people had suffered from the effects of this exposure, of whom 4,987 had survived and 1,402 had died (KEITI, 2019).

2 For example, after hazardous chemical gas leakage, soil can be acidified, and solubilized heavy metals can accumulate in crops.

3 According to the Local Autonomy Act, local governments are classified into two tiers: 17 higher-level local governments (Special Metropolitan City, Metropolitan city, Metropolitan Autonomous City, Provinces(do), and Special Self-Governing Province) and lower-level local governments (cities(si), counties(gun), districts(gu)).

4 29% of chemical accidents from 2014 to 2017 occurred in Gyeonggi-do, followed by Gyeongsangbuk-do (12.3%) and Jeollanam-do (7.3%).

5 The Devolution Promotion Committee started discussing the environmental tasks that were appropriate for transfer, including management of the entities handling hazardous chemicals, in August 1999 (Kwon, 2015). It recommended the transfer to local governments in January 2001 (Kim & Park, 2001).

6 The Ministry of Environment has eight Regional Environmental Offices (four River Basin Environmental Offices, three Regional Environmental Offices, and one Metropolitan Air Quality Management Office) to effectively manage the watersheds of four major rivers and the air quality of the metropolitan area.

7 The central government established this smartphone application in 2016. It allows communication between local and central government staffs and is used to share information about accidents and accident responses.

8 On January 1, 2019, the Household Chemical Products in Safety of Household Chemical Products and Biocidal Products Act came into force.

9 In South Korea, the tasks of public officials are rotated to avoid corruption. Problems with the rotation of positions in civil service, such as “low efficiency, lack of accountability and policy consistency, and low opportunity for accumulating expertise” (Kim, 2008, p. 63), are continually pointed out.

10 Gyeongsangbuk-do received the information from the Yeongsan River Environmental Office and the Nakdong River Environmental Office.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by National Research Foundation of Korea: [Grant Number NRF- 2018S1A5A8028278].