Ministry of Employment and Labor Launches Intense Inspection of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Following String of Fatal Entrapment Accidents

The Ministry of Employment and Labor has initiated a high-intensity inspection, comparable to a special supervision, targeting HD Hyundai Heavy Industries following a recent series of fatal worker entrapment accidents.

The Ministry announced today (August 18) that it is launching the rigorous inspection across HD Hyundai Heavy Industries' Ulsan and Gunsan shipyards—where the accidents occurred—as well as its headquarters and plants selected as ultra-high-risk workplaces earlier this year.

For this inspection, the inspection team has been expanded from local offices to regional employment and labor administrations, deploying a large-scale team consisting of 62 inspectors and employees from the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency.

In addition to entrapment hazards, the Ministry plans to intensively inspect compliance with the Industrial Safety and Health Act overall, including adherence to core safety rules for preventing critical industrial accidents such as being struck by objects, falls, fires, explosions, and asphyxiation.

The inspection will also closely review the overall safety and health management of the company, including whether improvement measures implemented after past accidents have been carried out, whether the headquarters-level safety and health management system is functioning, and whether risk assessments are being conducted effectively.

Violations identified during the inspection will face strict legal action, including immediate judicial proceedings.

The Ministry plans to strongly guide the company to formulate practical and palpable measures for areas requiring improvement.

Furthermore, as fatal accidents of the same type have occurred repeatedly, the Ministry plans to conduct a follow-up re-inspection after the initial inspection concludes to verify whether improvements are being continuously implemented, rather than conducting a one-off review.

Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Younghoon emphasized, "The repeated occurrence of the same type of critical industrial accidents proves that the company's safety management system is not functioning properly," adding, "We will take zero-tolerance action against companies where identical types of critical accidents occur."

Previously, on July 18, a subcontractor worker of Uzbek nationality died in an entrapment accident while working at the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Ulsan Shipyard, followed by another fatal entrapment accident on July 24 involving a subcontractor worker at the panel factory assembly line of the Gunsan Shipyard.

(Photo: Yonhap News)
※ Please note: This article was translated by AI and may contain errors.