GKN Aerospace is a major aerospace manufacturer. Here is what we know
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.
The company manufactures landing gear, 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.
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.
A company spokesperson did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment from The Times. The documents do not say how the company responded to the inspection reports.
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.