From the 1960s onwards, Korean industries were encouraged by the government to nurture heavy and chemical industry and to modernize the economics and industrial structures. In particular, the development of the chemical industry became the turning point in industrial development, and played a major role in the construction of a new industrialized country. It is expected that the chemical industry will be developed all the more due to process automation, the synthesis of new chemicals and the advancement of new process technology. The process systems in the chemical industry also became more complex and larger and the inventory of hazardous chemicals that are produced or consumed is increasing continuously. Therefore, the hazards from potential accidents such as the probabilities of fire, explosion and the release of toxic chemicals are expected to increase. In Korea, 93 major industrial accidents were reported to have occurred from 1988 to 1997. Transportation accidents are not included in this figure. In this paper, the analysis of these accidents focuses on the following descriptors: Year of occurrence, Industrial activity, Type of major accident, Equipment concerned, Operating circumstances.