A, the former CEO of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering Period (now Hanwha Ocean), has been charged with violating the Serious Accident Punishment Act in connection with the death of a subcontracted worker. Hanwha Ocean is the first of the three major Korean shipbuilders to be prosecuted under the Serious Accident Punishment Act.
The Korean media recently reported that relevant personnel from the Criminal Division 2 of the Tongyeong Branch Office of the Changwon District Public Prosecutor’s Office in Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea, announced that the former CEO of Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (now Hanwha Ocean), Mr. A, has been indicted for violating the Serious Accident Punishment Act; the former head of the Geoje Shipyard, Mr. B, has been indicted for violating the Occupational Safety and Health Act; and the representative of the subcontracting company, Mr. C, has been indicted for violating the Serious Accident Punishment Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Hanwha Ocean and the subcontracting company were also charged with the same offenses under the double punishment provision.
The case involves an accident two years ago.On March 25, 2022, a subcontracted worker in his 50s was killed by a falling object at the Hanwha Ocean Geoje Shipyard. A and other related persons, as well as the business entities, were alleged to be responsible for the accident. Reports at the time said the subcontracted worker was repairing the tower crane when he was struck in the head and killed by a tower crane lift wire that fell from a height of 60 meters.
The prosecution found that Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering (now Hanwha Ocean) and its subcontractors failed to designate work supervisors during the maintenance and repair of tower crane lifts, and failed to install equipment to prevent the risk of falling objects.
Notably, this is the first time since Korea’s Serious Accident Punishment Act came into effect that a major shipbuilder has been prosecuted for violating the law.
It is understood that South Korea’s Serious Accident Punishment Act came into effect on January 27, 2022. The Act stipulates that owners or managers who violate their duty to establish a safety and health management system will be punished if a major disaster occurs, such as the death of an employee: If an employee dies at work, the employer or the person in charge of management shall be sentenced to more than one year of imprisonment or a fine of up to 1 billion won, or both imprisonment and a fine; the responsible corporate representative or organization shall also be sentenced to a fine of up to 5 billion won.
It is not uncommon for cases to file lawsuits against the principals of shipbuilding companies. In July 2023, the main leaders of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries and its related subcontracting companies were sentenced for the deaths of four shipyard workers.These cases involved safety accidents that occurred at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Ulsan Shipyard and Offshore Division between September 2019 and May 2020.
A number of fatal accidents have occurred in South Korean shipyards so far this year. HD Hyundai Group, Samsung Heavy Industries, and Hanwha Ocean, the three major shipbuilders in South Korea, have all experienced major production accidents, and all of the workers killed were from subcontracting companies.
The accidents resulted in one death and one serious injury to a subcontracted worker at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, a shipbuilding subsidiary of HD Hyundai Group. One subcontracted worker died at Samsung Heavy Industries. Two subcontracted workers of Hanwha Ocean died. And one subcontracted worker of HSG Seongdong Shipbuilding died.