The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) and police on the 20th are conducting searches and seizures at the headquarters of HJ Heavy Industries & Construction Co. and other locations in connection with the boiler tower collapse at the Ulsan Thermal Power Plant.
The Busan Regional Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Ulsan Metropolitan Police Agency said they deployed about 50 labor inspectors and police officers that day to secure work-related documents and accident history materials from HJ Heavy Industries & Construction Co.
The ministry said it plans to examine whether the necessary safety measures to prevent collapse risks were properly implemented during the dismantling process, and added that it will thoroughly identify the structural causes of the accident through the relationship of work instructions between the prime contractor and subcontractors, construction methods, and the safety management system, and, if violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Serious Accidents Punishment Act are found, it will strictly hold those responsible to account.
In addition to this investigation into a serious accident, the ministry plans to reexamine the risks involved in closing aging thermal power plants. The ministry said it would prepare a comprehensive government-level plan through careful discussions on matters requiring institutional supplementation.
On the 6th, a boiler tower collapse occurred at the Ulsan Thermal Power Plant in Nam-gu, Ulsan, leaving seven workers dead and two injured.