Sampyo Industry booked as 1st firm accused of violating new workplace disaster law

Police officials investigate a landslide site at a quarry in Yangju, Feb. 3. Labor ministry officials searched the headquarters of Sampyo Industry in central Seoul, Friday, in connection with the recent industrial accident at the quarry that left three workers dead. Yonhap

Labor ministry officials searched the headquarters of Sampyo Industry in central Seoul, Friday, in connection with a recent industrial accident in a quarry that left three workers dead.

The search came after the ministry booked Sampyo, a manufacturer of construction materials such as remicon, Wednesday as the first firm to be accused of violating a newly enacted workplace disaster law aimed at better protecting workers from industrial accidents.

Under the law, owners and CEOs of companies with five or more employees can face a minimum one-year prison sentence or a fine of up to 1 billion won (US$832,708) in the event of serious workplace disasters.

On Jan. 29, a landslide at a quarry operated by Sampyo in Yangju, north of Seoul, left three workers dead while they were drilling holes for demolition work in what is seen as the first industrial disaster after the new law went into force. (Yonhap)