Ministry of Employment Begins Investigation into 'Crushing Death' at Hanil Cement... "Checking Employer's Duty Compliance"

"If Serious Violation, Strict Punishment"... Nationwide Simultaneous Inspection Begins to Prevent Falls and Entrapments

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The Ministry of Employment and Labor has launched an investigation into Hanil Cement in Gongju, Chungcheongnam-do, where a subcontracted worker recently died in a caught-in accident.

On the 13th, the Ministry of Employment and Labor stated, "The Daejeon Regional Employment and Labor Office immediately ordered a work stoppage upon recognizing the accident and is currently conducting an investigation," adding, "If the legal violations are serious, strict punishment will be imposed."

At Hanil Cement's Gongju factory, on the 10th, a worker belonging to a partner company was performing maintenance work under a cement bag loader when the machine started operating, causing the worker to be caught and fatally injured. The Ministry of Employment and Labor views this as a typical caught-in accident occurring during so-called 'non-routine work' such as machine repair, maintenance, and cleaning.

Accidents during non-routine work mainly occur at small-scale workplaces with fewer than 50 employees. Caught-in accidents caused by non-routine work can be prevented simply by stopping the machine operation. This means that prevention is possible with just a basic safety and health management system in place.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor explained, "In the case of Hanil Cement's Gongju factory, we plan to focus the investigation on whether safety managers provided guidance and advice to prevent caught-in accident risks and whether the employer implemented these measures."

Kwon Kisub, Director of the Occupational Safety and Health Headquarters at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, emphasized, "For companies that neglect safety, we will take all possible measures, including work stoppage and safety and health supervision."

Meanwhile, to prevent frequent fall and caught-in accidents in the construction and manufacturing industries, the Ministry of Employment and Labor has decided to conduct nationwide inspections of construction and manufacturing workplaces every two weeks starting from the third week of this month. Approximately 1,800 industrial safety and health inspectors will be deployed for these inspections.