Even Team Leaders Lose Biweekly 4-Day Workweek... POSCO Cracks Down on Work Discipline Amid Repeated Accidents

Following consecutive accidents including the Pohang Steelworks fire
Executives followed by team leaders also switch shifts
Chairman Jang In-hwa expresses concern over "lax work discipline"

In response to the recent consecutive accidents at POSCO Pohang Steelworks, POSCO Group has taken measures to enforce work discipline not only among executives but also middle managers.

According to the steel industry on the 1st, POSCO switched from a 'biweekly 4-day workweek' to a '5-day workweek' for middle managers up to the team leader level starting from the end of November. For positions below team leader, such as section chiefs and regular employees, the biweekly 4-day workweek will be maintained as before.

Earlier this year, POSCO was the first in the steel industry to introduce a biweekly 4-day workweek, but due to the downturn in the steel market, it switched executives to a 5-day workweek starting in June.

This transition is a follow-up measure to the CEO message from POSCO Holdings Chairman Jang In-hwa last month, which announced the shift of group executives to a 5-day workweek. Chairman Jang emphasized work discipline among executives and employees in relation to the recent consecutive accidents at Pohang Steelworks, changing the biweekly 4-day workweek for executives of the group holding company POSCO Holdings to a 5-day workweek.

Chairman Jang stated, "As the year-end approaches, there is concern that loosened work discipline and decreased concentration may have caused these accidents," and added, "We also need to examine whether short-term goals such as target production volume, operating profit, and maintenance cost reduction influenced this fire incident."

At POSCO Pohang Steelworks' 3 Finex Plant, explosion and fire accidents occurred consecutively on the 10th and 24th of last month. The second accident on the 24th happened while trial operations had resumed on the 19th without fully recovering from the aftermath of the accident on the 10th.

Chairman Jang also ordered the launch of a 'Facility Robustness Task Force (TFT)' within the group to intensively inspect equipment conditions. The Facility Robustness TFT will conduct thorough on-site inspections of all domestic and overseas steelworks sites and establish and implement a facility robustness plan as a follow-up measure.