Masan Branch Court Sentences CEO to 1 Year Imprisonment
The CEO of Hankook Steel, who was indicted for violating the Serious Accidents Punishment Act (Serious Accidents Punishment Act) and other charges, was sentenced to imprisonment in the first trial and was taken into custody in court.
This is the first time since the Serious Accidents Punishment Act was enforced last year that a CEO of a primary contractor has been detained.
On the 26th, the Criminal Division 1 of the Changwon District Court Masan Branch (Chief Judge Kang Ji-woong) sentenced Mr. A, who was indicted for violating the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and other charges, to one year in prison.
Mr. A was indicted on charges of failing to fulfill safety obligations related to the death of Mr. B, a man in his 60s who was working at Hankook Steel in Haman, Gyeongnam, on March 16 last year, when his leg was crushed by a 1.2-ton heat shield.
The prosecution stated that Mr. A, who was responsible for the safety and health management system, failed to fulfill his duties, including establishing evaluation criteria for subcontractors' ability and technology to prevent industrial accidents and setting performance evaluation standards for safety and health managers, resulting in Mr. B's death. In November last year, the prosecution demanded a two-year prison sentence for Mr. A and a fine of 150 million won for the company.
The court said, "Industrial accidents have frequently occurred at Hankook Steel, and even after the enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, safety responsibilities were not fulfilled, leading to this incident. This reveals a structural problem threatening the safety of workers, making severe punishment inevitable."
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