It has been confirmed that a series of forklift-related accidents have recently occurred in the shipbuilding industry. At DK Shipyard, a midsize shipbuilder in Geoje, South Gyeongsang, one worker died, and at the Hanwha Ocean Geoje shipyard, a forklift pierced through a vehicle carrying a driver and a passenger. Critics say the surge in shipyard workloads is not being matched by safety systems and skilled labor.
As a structure that relies on subcontracting to cut expense spreads, gaps in safety management are opening up, and as a result, basic procedures such as deploying signalers or providing safety training often do not function properly on site, observers say.
◇ Through a truck window, crushing a worker… forklift accidents keep recurring
According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) and the shipbuilding industry on the 27th, on the 17th a 7-ton (t) forklift moving through the yard at the Hanwha Ocean Geoje site rammed into a work truck. The forklift's forks (the tines that carry loads) pierced the truck's side and went through the driver's seat and the back seat. The forks narrowly missed the driver and the passenger, and no one was hurt, they said.
Immediately after the accident, the Hanwha Ocean labor union invoked the right to stop work for 18 forklifts assigned to the job where the accident occurred and demanded that management provide measures to prevent a recurrence, including trauma counseling for the truck's driver and passenger. Citing the frequency of similar recent accidents and the high potential risk despite no casualties this time, the union said those were the grounds for the stoppage.
If forklifts stop, material transport is cut off and shipbuilding processes are temporarily halted. Management presented measures to prevent a recurrence, including standard hand signal training between forklift drivers and signalers and providing radios, and the union lifted the work stoppage for all forklifts except the one involved in the accident the next day.
The accident occurred a little over a month after Hanwha Ocean CEO Kim Hee-cheul promised to strengthen the safety management system "with a resolve as if cutting to the bone" following a worker's death. Forklift accidents at Hanwha Ocean business sites continued, with 15 cases last year and eight this year.
On the same afternoon that a forklift accident occurred at Hanwha Ocean, a worker in his 60s died after colliding with a forklift at a DK establishment, a midsize ship equipment company. DK receives orders from Hanwha Ocean and Samsung Heavy Industries and manufactures ship blocks. During the movement of a 16t forklift, the operator failed to spot a worker, leading to a crushing death. The Ministry of Labor issued a partial work stoppage order against DK, and police are currently investigating possible violations of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
Such forklift accidents are recurring across shipyards. According to a survey by the Coalition for Human Rights Against Abuses in the Shipbuilding Industry, on May 23 at Marintec in the Daebul Industrial Complex in Yeongam County, South Jeolla, a 16t forklift failed to spot a worker while operating and collided, killing the worker. In December last year, a worker also died after being struck by a reversing forklift in the yard at Shinhan Heavy Industries in Ulsan.
On the ground, there is a tendency to keep quiet when there are no casualties, so the actual number of accidents is believed to be higher. Samsung Heavy Industries did not disclose the number of forklift accidents.
◇ "Formalistic" operation of signaler deployment and training rules… frequent use of unskilled labor
On shipyard floors, critics say the string of accidents are man-made disasters caused by failure to follow basic safety rules. Because forklifts have obstructed views by loads and wide blind spots, making it hard for operators to identify surrounding hazards on their own, the Occupational Safety and Health standards require the mandatory deployment of guides (signalers) to control the work radius. However, workers say signalers are often not deployed, or if they are, a lack of training means they are not in sync with operators, leading to accidents.
Employee A, who works at the Hanwha Ocean Geoje shipyard, said, "More than 50% of subcontracted workers quit before a year is up, so turnover is very high," adding, "As a result, both the prime contractor and subcontractors fail to provide proper training for signaler duties, and the skill levels of signalers and equipment operators sent to the site are low, so safety rules often are not followed."
There is also a problem with the practice of pushing safety to the back burner to cut expense. B, a forklift operator at a midsize shipyard, said, "Signalers or safety personnel who do not directly build ships become the top targets for cuts," adding, "Forget specialized training—workers doing welding or other tasks are suddenly handed a signal baton and sent to the site in a 'patchwork deployment' that happens all the time." The explanation is that site systems run ad hoc without dedicated personnel often end up leading to accidents.
In response, workers agree that it is important for shipyards to increase investment in safety. At HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, where one professional signaler is assigned to each forklift, there were zero forklift accidents this year and one last year, relatively few. C, who works at the HD Hyundai Heavy Industries Ulsan shipyard, said, "Since four years ago, we have mandated dedicated signaler assignments for forklift work, and after last year's fatal accident, investment in safety—such as adding anti-wheel-jam guards to machines—has increased, reducing the many accidents," adding, "The result is a principle that has taken hold on site: assign one professional worker to each forklift who does only signaling duties without concurrent tasks, and immediately stop work if this is violated."
Some also say production-first priorities driven by a boom are heightening accident risks. D, another frontline worker at Hanwha Ocean, said, "With liquefied natural gas (LNG) carrier orders pouring in, there is intense pressure on work speed," adding, "Because workers are crowded in the yard, the forklift human-detection sensor alarm goes off constantly and is effectively treated as 'noise.' In the end, without proper training and under time pressure, safety devices fail to function and are neutralized."
◇ Experts say "showcase inspections have limits… strengthen prime contractors' safety responsibility"
Experts say effective measures are urgently needed to strengthen prime contractors' safety responsibility to break the chain of accidents. Under the current Occupational Safety and Health Act, business sites that own five or more cargo-handling machines such as forklifts must provide at least 16 hours of special safety and health training to workers who use the machines, but at subcontracted sites with many foreign and short-term workers, language barriers and concerns about manpower gaps mean the training often is not carried out properly.
Choi Myeong-gi, a professor with the Korea Industrial Field Professors, said, "Given the shipbuilding industry's characteristic multilevel subcontracting, it is realistically impossible to fully expect small subcontractors, which lack manpower and budgets, to manage safety," adding, "Even if the government increases industrial safety inspectors to strengthen pre-inspections, companies simply meet standards during on-site checks, so the limits are clear."
Choi added, "Even if the prime contractor outsources hazardous work to save on labor and other expense, it should not evade the accompanying responsibility for safety management," and said, "We must strengthen the legal and institutional obligations so that prime contractors with real financial resources and authority directly handle safety training for subcontracted workers and manage signalers, in order to stop recurring accidents."