By Lee Hyo-sik
Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) closed its plants on Wednesday for safety inspections, following accidents that claimed the lives of three workers in one week this month.
It is the first time that Korea's largest shipbuilder has suspended operations since it was founded in 1972. The one-day shutdown was estimated to have cost the company 8.3 billion won ($7.2 million) in wages, excluding production losses and other financial damage.
The latest death happened Tuesday, when a forklift crushed a worker at a plant in Ulsan. On April 18, a worker, 35, sent from an HHI small-business partner, was killed by an excavator at an HHI plant. The third worker died on April 11 in a similar accident.
In March, two workers were killed.
Alarmed by the workers' deaths, the shipbuilder decided to close the plants to conduct a full-scale safety inspection and provide a safety seminar for all employees.
"It is very regrettable that three precious lives were lost over the past week due to serious accidents," HHI said. "The company takes these incidents very seriously and will do everything to prevent them from recurring. We will focus all our resources on making our workplace safer for employees."
HHI said it will hold supervisors responsible if an accident occurs. It will also force its business partners to enhance safety education for employees and cancel contracts with companies whose employees frequently disregard safety rules.
Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) closed its plants on Wednesday for safety inspections, following accidents that claimed the lives of three workers in one week this month.
It is the first time that Korea's largest shipbuilder has suspended operations since it was founded in 1972. The one-day shutdown was estimated to have cost the company 8.3 billion won ($7.2 million) in wages, excluding production losses and other financial damage.
The latest death happened Tuesday, when a forklift crushed a worker at a plant in Ulsan. On April 18, a worker, 35, sent from an HHI small-business partner, was killed by an excavator at an HHI plant. The third worker died on April 11 in a similar accident.
In March, two workers were killed.
Alarmed by the workers' deaths, the shipbuilder decided to close the plants to conduct a full-scale safety inspection and provide a safety seminar for all employees.
"It is very regrettable that three precious lives were lost over the past week due to serious accidents," HHI said. "The company takes these incidents very seriously and will do everything to prevent them from recurring. We will focus all our resources on making our workplace safer for employees."
HHI said it will hold supervisors responsible if an accident occurs. It will also force its business partners to enhance safety education for employees and cancel contracts with companies whose employees frequently disregard safety rules.
