What we know about GKN Aerospace, the firm at center of O.C. chemical leak

The chemical leak that triggered evacuations across a swath of Orange County on Friday is located at GKN Aerospace, a manufacturing company based in the United Kingdom.

A leading aerospace firm

The company manufactures landing gears, jet engines and other materials for commercial and military aircraft.

GKN Aerospace’s Garden Grove facility, which sits on 15.5 acres on Western Avenue, designs, analyzes, tests and certifies military canopies, cockpit windows and passenger widows, according to its website.

The company has been at the site since 2004, according to city documents.

“GKN Aerospace manufactures the world-leading F-35 canopy from its Garden Grove facility, as well as transparencies for the Boeing 787 Dreamliner and 737, the Airbus A350, HondaJet and Bombardier C-Series,” the company’s website states.

What company is saying

A spokesperson for GKN Aerospace told The Times on Friday that they are responding to the situation and working with fire crews and specialized hazardous materials teams.

“There are no reports of injuries at this time, and our priority remains the safety of our employees, responders, and the surrounding community,” the spokesperson said. “The situation at our Garden Grove site remains ongoing, and we are fully focused on working with emergency services and the relevant authorities to ensure the safety of our employees and the local community.”

The problem

There are three large tanks with a highly toxic chemical called methyl methacrylate, or MMA, used to make plastic, at the site in the 12000 block of Western Avenue in Garden Grove.

One tank that officials have said is “in crisis” has about 7,000 gallons of the chemical left in it. It started experiencing a rise in temperatures on Thursday, which triggered temporary evacuations. But fire crews were called out to the site again on Friday.

Craig Covey, a division chief with the Orange County Fire Authority and the incident commander, described two possible scenarios for the tank during a news conference on Friday afternoon.

“One, it fails and cracks, and all the product leaks out onto the ground,” Covey said, and efforts are underway to try to prevent the liquid from “getting into the storm drains and the river channels and into our oceans.”

Or, it will explode, he said.

Officials have been working to come up with what Covey said were “out of the box” ideas to prevent as much damage as possible.

“Our group is going to do everything they can to come up with a third, a fourth, a fifth option,” he said.

OSHA inspections

The company’s Garden Grove facility has undergone four inspections by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration since 2018, which resulted in 10 violations, public records show.

More information about those violations was not immediately available.

In 2019, the California Department of Industrial Relations filed a request in Orange County Superior Court that a judge order the company to pay $2,898 in unpaid civil penalties.

The citation, outlined in court records, alleged the company in April 2018 “failed to ensure that all machinery and equipment in service were inspected or maintained as recommended by the manufacturer.”

The company also received a violation for allegedly failing to “implement and effective written injury and illness prevention program” in accordance with state law.

It doesn’t appear that any of the violations were related to the tanks at the center of Friday’s incident.

The documents do not say how the company responded to the inspection reports.

“Safety at our facilities is paramount,” a GKN spokesperson said in response to questions from The Times. “We follow all standard safety protocols and processes and are regularly audited by numerous state and federal agencies.”

“Our focus and priority today is on working with emergency services and the relevant authorities to address the issue at hand and protect the local community,” the spokesperson added.

This year the company sought permission from the Garden Grove planning commission to construct a new employee break room on the site. The plans included the construction of a new 1,504 square-foot building, a roof deck and an open-air patio, according to city documents.

Questions from officials

Congressman Derek Tran, an Orange County Democrat, said Friday night that he had spoken with the leadership of GKN Aerospace and had “urged the company to take full responsibility for the panic and disruption that tens of thousands of residents are currently experiencing.”

“We agreed the priority is the safety of the community and addressing the urgent crisis at hand,” Tran wrote in a post on social media.

“I’m continuing to work with emergency personnel to ensure that residents are safe and have the resources they need while officials work to mitigate the impacts of the hazmat incident.”