125 violations at prime contractor, 13 at subcontractors; 86 cases referred for criminal charges
26 violations tied to entrapment hazards, including disabled interlocks
280 million won in fines; probes launched at Wonju and Iksan factories
Inspectors found 138 violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act at HL Mando's Pyeongtaek factory following a fatal entrapment accident involving a subcontracted worker, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced Monday. Twenty-six of the violations were directly related to entrapment hazards — the same type of risk that killed the worker. The ministry said it would refer 86 violations for criminal prosecution and impose fines totaling about 280 million won ($203,000) for the remaining 52.
The ministry conducted the safety inspection at the factory from Aug. 18 to Friday after a subcontracted worker was fatally caught in machinery during maintenance work on July 22. The results were announced Monday.
The inspection focused on safety measures for machinery and equipment that pose entrapment risks, the prime contractor's industrial accident prevention obligations, the operation of the joint labor-management safety committee, and the overall safety management system covering both the prime contractor and its subcontractors.
Interlocks disabled during operation; fall and electrocution hazards also left unaddressed
A total of 125 violations were found at HL Mando's Pyeongtaek factory, the prime contractor. The ministry plans to refer 81 of those cases for criminal prosecution and impose fines of about 260 million won for the remaining 44.
Seventy-eight violations involved breaches of industrial safety and health standards. Entrapment-related violations accounted for 26 of those — about 33 percent. Inspectors found instances where interlocks, the safety devices that prevent workers from accessing machinery while it is running, had been disabled while equipment remained in operation. Covers were also missing from conveyor drive units and motor-connecting belts on washing facility equipment.
Inspectors also confirmed that emergency stop devices had not been installed at the ends of conveyors, and that safe crossover bridges for workers were absent.
An additional 52 violations involved other serious hazard categories, including falls, electrocution, slipping and collisions. These included a failure to provide safety harness anchor points for maintenance work on top of equipment, and an industrial robot whose interlock wiring insulation and grounding cables had been left in a damaged state. Three violations were also found in which the prime contractor had neglected its duty to prevent and protect subcontracted workers from industrial accidents.
The factory's joint labor-management safety committee was also found to have been poorly run. Of the meetings required between 2021 and this year, HL Mando's Pyeongtaek factory held only five, skipping 17. When the committee was reconstituted this year, the factory also failed to meet the legal requirements for its composition. The ministry plans to impose a fine of 85 million won for the committee-related violations.
Fines of about 170 million won will also be imposed for 42 additional violations, including failures to conduct mandatory safety and health training and inadequate management of material safety data sheets.
Subcontractor of deceased worker also found negligent in safety checks
Thirteen violations were found across four subcontractors at the Pyeongtaek factory. The ministry plans to refer five cases for criminal prosecution and impose fines of about 20 million won for the remaining eight.
Piarodix, the subcontractor that employed the worker who died, failed to require supervisors to conduct safety checks and verify whether any abnormalities existed during machinery maintenance work. The ministry plans to impose a fine of 11 million won on the company.
The three other subcontractors were found to have failed to restrict worker access to forklift operating zones and to have not provided special safety training for workers handling benzene, among other violations.
The ministry ordered HL Mando's Pyeongtaek factory to establish a comprehensive recurrence-prevention plan and also launched safety inspections at the company's Wonju and Iksan factories.
"Entrapment accidents involving machinery and equipment can be fully prevented through basic protective measures and lockout/tagout procedures before maintenance," Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon said. "It is the government's firm principle that there can be no distinction between prime contractor and subcontractor when it comes to workers' lives."
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