The Ministry of Employment and Labor launched an intensive inspection of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries on Tuesday after two workers were fatally caught in machinery at the company within a single week.
The ministry deployed a 62-member inspection team to examine not only the shipyards where the accidents occurred but also the company's headquarters-level safety and health management system. Officials said they would apply a zero-tolerance policy to companies that repeatedly suffer serious accidents of the same type.
The action follows a pattern of recurring entrapment fatalities at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, with two more deaths of the same kind occurring within the past week alone.
The inspection covers the Ulsan and Gunsan shipyards where the accidents took place, as well as the company's headquarters and facilities designated earlier this year as extremely high-risk workplaces. The ministry expanded its inspection team to include regional offices, deploying a total of 62 people — labor inspectors and staff from the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency.
The scope of the inspection was also significantly broadened. Inspectors plan to examine compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act in its entirety, with particular focus on core safety rules covering not only the recurring entrapment hazard but also collision, fall, fire, explosion and asphyxiation risks that could lead to serious accidents.
Inspectors will also check whether corrective measures the company put in place after past accidents are in fact being carried out on the ground. Whether the headquarters-level safety and health management system is functioning properly at the worksite level, and whether risk assessments are being conducted effectively, will also be scrutinized.
The ministry said any general violations found during the inspection would be referred immediately for criminal prosecution. For issues requiring improvement, inspectors will provide on-site guidance to enable prompt corrective action.
The inspection will not be a one-time exercise. A follow-up inspection will be conducted after the initial one concludes to verify that corrective measures are being sustained at the worksite, given the repeated nature of the fatal accidents.
"The recurrence of serious accidents of the same type is evidence that a company's safety management system is not functioning properly," Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon said. "The company must analyze everything from past serious accidents to near-misses and confirm that the major risk factors at its shipyards are being properly managed."
"The government will apply a zero-tolerance principle to companies where serious accidents of the same type keep occurring," Kim added.
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