Labor authorities uncovered a large number of occupational safety violations at auto parts maker HL Mando's Pyeongtaek plant, where a subcontracted worker in their 20s was crushed to death by a machine.
A safety inspection of the Pyeongtaek plant and four subcontractors turned up 138 violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in total, the Ministry of Employment and Labor said on the 21st. The ministry plans to refer 86 of those cases for criminal action and to impose fines of about 280 million won ($200,000) in the remaining 52 cases.
The Pyeongtaek plant accounted for 125 of the violations, the bulk of the total. Among them, 26 involved crushing hazards, the direct cause of the worker's death. Another 13 violations were found at the four subcontractors. At the subcontractor that employed the worker who died, supervisors failed to properly conduct safety checks or verify whether equipment was malfunctioning during machine maintenance work, the investigation found. The ministry has also launched the same type of safety inspection at HL Mando's Wonju and Iksan plants.
On July 22, a subcontracted worker in their 20s died at the Pyeongtaek plant after their upper body was caught between a machine and a wall while inspecting the inside of a broken parts-processing machine.
