[Anchor]

Last month, a subcontracted worker in his 50s died after being crushed by a mound of soil at a construction site in Ulsan. The accident occurred at the nation's largest petrochemical complex construction site, backed by an investment exceeding 9 trillion won, yet there was not even a shoring structure in place to prevent such an accident.

Reporter Kwon Min-kyu has this exclusive report.

[Reporter]

Workers in fluorescent vests move urgently, some frantically digging out soil with their hands and shovels.

This was the immediate aftermath of an accident last June at the S-Oil petrochemical complex construction site in Onsan-eup, Ulsan, where a subcontracted worker in his 50s, surnamed Jeong, was crushed by a pile of soil.

The soil, softened by rain that had fallen until early that morning, collapsed and engulfed Jeong while he was performing excavation work on a slope beneath a temporary bridge.

[Accident Witness: About seven or eight people came to clear it, but it wouldn't budge. It was too heavy. In the end, they had to dig into the ground to pull him out...]

Jeong was transported to the hospital in a state of cardiac arrest and ultimately passed away.

However, footage obtained by SBS right after the accident shows no shoring facilities to block the cascading soil.

According to the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Act, excavation work requires securing an appropriate slope angle or installing shoring structures where hazards are anticipated.

Yet, no shoring facilities were present, and it was found that the accident site was a steep incline exceeding safety angle standards.

The location of the accident was the Shaheen Project site, which the government touted three years ago as a diplomatic achievement with Saudi Arabia.

The Shaheen Project poured a massive budget of 9.3 trillion won across an 880,000-square-meter plot, but failed to guarantee safety for the on-site workers.

In 2024, when construction for the Shaheen Project got into full swing, 53 industrial accidents occurred, followed by 170 accidents last year, and 127 industrial accidents in the first half of this year alone, including two fatalities.

[Accident Witness: Small accidents gradually lead to major ones, so this feels like an accident waiting to happen. I don't think there's any such thing as an accident that 'couldn't be helped.']

[Rep. Kim So-hee of the People Power Party (National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee): Because the Serious Accidents Punishment Act focuses too heavily on tightening punishments, there needs to be a shift toward providing incentives for companies to strengthen their investments in safety.]

When asked for its stance, S-Oil declined to issue a separate statement, while the main contractor, Hyundai Engineering & Construction, stated that it is cooperating with police and Ministry of Labor investigations and will formulate countermeasures to prevent similar accidents from recurring.

(Video Reporter: Kim Young-hwan | Video Editor: So Ji-hye | Designer: Cho Soo-in)