Golden Bell Rings Instead of Hammer Sounds... Industrial Safety Campaign for Foreign Workers at Shipyards

Busan Branch of Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency Holds 'Industrial Safety Golden Bell' Challenge for Foreign Workers at Samsung Heavy Industries

Ding~dong~dang~! In the midst of the welding sparks and hammering in the bustling shipyard, the unexpected sound of the Golden Bell will soon ring out.

Just like any other Golden Bell challenge, participants will solve and answer quiz questions, but in this event, the contestants are foreign workers.

The Busan Regional Headquarters of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency will host the "Industrial Safety Golden Bell" program at the Samsung Heavy Industries indoor gymnasium in Geoje on September 5, from 1:30 p.m. to 5:00 p.m.

Geoje and Tongyeong in Gyeongnam are home to the industrial sites with the highest number of serious accidents this year. The Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency is joining forces with Samsung Heavy Industries, which employs the largest number of foreign workers, pouring efforts into preventing serious industrial accidents. This event is both an industrial safety campaign and a quiz event, aiming to ensure safety in shipyards where many foreign workers are engaged in demanding yard work.

About 200 foreign workers, both inside and outside Samsung Heavy Industries' Geoje Shipyard, will participate in the Golden Bell event, forming teams of two to take on the quiz program. The questions will cover safety rules to be observed at shipbuilding sites, key safety and health activities promoted or emphasized by Samsung Heavy Industries, as well as basic knowledge of Korean culture and general facts.

While the main focus is on industrial safety, there will also be questions designed to help foreign participants better understand Korean culture. Considering the participants are foreigners, a set of approximately twice the number of expected industrial safety questions will be provided in advance to Samsung Heavy Industries so that contestants can familiarize themselves with the material.

The agency plans to comprehensively select questions from the shared pool to adjust the difficulty level. To further enhance foreign workers' understanding, videos and photos will be actively used throughout the Golden Bell event.

For the Golden Bell awards, the first-place team will receive the President of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency Award and a prize of 200,000 won. The second-place team will receive the Samsung Heavy Industries Shipyard Manager's Award and a prize of 200,000 won, while the third-place team will receive the Busan Regional Headquarters Director's Award and a prize of 200,000 won.

A representative from the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency explained, "As the government continues to expand the employment permit system for foreign workers to address labor shortages in shipbuilding and small and medium-sized businesses, it is important to raise safety awareness among these workers and foster an atmosphere of preventing fatal accidents."

Gong Heungdoo, head of the Busan Regional Headquarters, stated, "We will continue to make every effort to strengthen the commitment to safety practices at shipyards in the Busan-Ulsan-Gyeongnam region to prevent serious accidents among the increasing number of foreign workers in shipyards."