5 Officials, Including Samlip Sihwa Plant Manager, Referred to Prosecution Over Worker Finger Amputation Accident

Police, who have been investigating a finger amputation accident that occurred at the Sihwa plant of Samlip, an affiliate of Sangmidang Holdings (formerly SPC Group), in April, have referred the plant manager and others responsible for the accident to the prosecution.

The Siheung Police Station in Gyeonggi Province announced today (June 22) that it had booked five plant officials, including the plant manager identified as 'A' who is responsible for safety and health management, on charges of professional negligence resulting in injury, and referred them to the Ansan Branch of the Suwon District Prosecutors' Office on the 12th.

'A' and the others are accused of failing to fulfill their safety obligations regarding the accident on April 10, at approximately 12:20 a.m., when the fingers of two workers—a person in their 30s identified as 'B' and a person in their 20s identified as 'C'—were caught in a chain and partially amputated while they were replacing a conveyor sensor at the Samlip Sihwa hamburger bun production line.

The investigation revealed that the two workers were attempting to inspect the conveyor sensor after it malfunctioned while other employees were away for a meal.

In particular, 'B', who was the manager of the work shift at the time, was included in the referral as it was determined that the work was carried out without cutting off the power supply.

The Samlip Sihwa plant has seen three human casualties in the past year, including the death of a female worker in her 50s due to a caught-in accident in May of last year, and a major fire in February that left three people injured from smoke inhalation.

Furthermore, on the 10th, while the investigation into this finger amputation accident was underway, a female Vietnamese worker in her 40s suffered a severe arm injury in a caught-in accident at a Shany plant in Daegu, another affiliate of the same group, leading to continued criticism regarding poor safety management across the group's companies.

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