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SPC launches internal watchdog following employee's fatal accident
SPC Compliance Committee head Kim Ji-hyung, center, and other committee members / Courtesy of SPC
By Ko Dong-hwan
Korean major food conglomerate SPC Group announced on Thursday the launch of an internal watchdog group to enhance self-monitoring and ensure its business operations comply with the country’s legal regulations.
The SPC Compliance Committee consists of four legal experts from outside the company and one internal management leader. Kim Ji-hyung, a legal adviser at Seoul-based law firm Jipyong, heads the committee.
The other external members include a lawyer from Jipyong, a professor from Chung-Ang University’s School of Economics and the head of the ISO Committee on Consumer Policy.
Kyung Jae-hyung, CEO of Paris Croissant, SPC’s dessert cafe subsidiary, serves as the committee’s sole internal member.
SPC launched the committee after police investigators and inspectors from the country’s labor ministry on Tuesday raided SPC Samlip, a confectionery unit under the conglomerate, and its factory in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, in connection with a fatal accident that killed a factory worker last month. The authorities booked seven factory officials on charges of occupational negligence resulting in the death.
The conglomerate has seen three employee deaths at their workplaces in the past three years, raising public criticism for the repeated tragedies.
The committee said the company cannot regain public trust and fix the root of the fatal safety accidents by itself and it needs a group of experts from outside the company who will be appointed by the committee.
“Companies more exposed to public scrutiny and criticisms are more likely to introduce a more robust internal compliance system,” Kim said. “By being vetted and verified by outside experts, the conglomerate will better recover its public trust.”
A SPC official said the company will fully accept the committee’s advice and better abide by the country’s labor laws.
The committee held its first meeting on Monday, checking the company’s past workplace safety accidents and current legal compliance net. It also expressed regret for the recent death of a female SPC Samlip employee in her 50s.