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🇰🇷 South Korea /Crime & Justice

Another Worker Dies Alone at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, Raising Questions Over Two-Person Safety Rules

From Hankyoreh · () Korean

Translated from Korean and summarized by DistantNews. Read the original for the full story.

At a glance

News Named sources Under investigation
  • A 67-year-old subcontract worker died after being found unconscious in a machinery room at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in Ulsan.
  • The union suspects he fell from a ladder while working alone, despite safety guidance calling for two-person work on ladders above 1.2 metres.
  • The Labour Ministry is examining possible violations of the Serious Accident Punishment Act, while the union says three other workers have died alone at related worksites this year.

A 67-year-old subcontract worker was found bleeding from the head in a machinery room at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ former Mipo shipyard in Ulsan. He later died in hospital, in what the union says is the fourth death this year involving a worker who was working alone at the company.

The worker, identified by his surname Park, worked for subcontractor Hyunwoo Service. He inspected boiler equipment and valves connected to a bathhouse during solo shifts. A patrolling worker noticed that the machinery-room lights remained on and found Park unconscious at about 8:24 p.m. on August 28. Police said he may have died three to four hours before he was found.

Four workers have died in solo work incidents this year alone.

— Kim Hyeong-suThe union’s labour-safety chief called for measures to prevent workers from operating alone.

Investigators believe a fall occurred, based on an autopsy that found an injury to the back of his head and abrasions on his body. The union believes Park fell while using a ladder. He was found between a roughly two-metre ladder and piping, with a flashlight above the ladder. The bottom rung had buckled from a heavy impact.

We have urged the company to prepare measures for solo work.

— Kim Hyeong-suHe described the union’s response to the repeated workplace deaths.

Safety guidance from the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency calls for two-person work on mobile ladders higher than 1.2 metres. No colleague worked alongside Park. The machinery-room CCTV had reportedly been broken for at least seven years, leaving no recording of what happened. The Labour Ministry is examining whether the Serious Accident Punishment Act was violated.

The union also cited three other recent deaths involving workers who were alone, including a subcontractor killed during a submarine fire in April and two workers who died in separate entrapment accidents in Ulsan and at the Gunsan shipyard. HD Hyundai Heavy Industries said it would cooperate fully with investigations. A subcontractor injured after being run over by a trailer at the company’s Yongyeon plant also died in hospital on September 1.

We will actively cooperate with investigations by the relevant authorities.

— HD Hyundai Heavy IndustriesThe company responded to the fatal incident and the official inquiries.
About this summary

Originally published by Hankyoreh in Korean. Translated, summarized, and contextualized automatically by DistantNews, with a note on how the source frames the story. Not individually reviewed before publishing. How this works.

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