The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) imposed a total of 768 million won in fines on POSCO E&C, where five worker deaths occurred last year.
The ministry said on the 20th that it took these actions after inspecting POSCO E&C's headquarters and 62 construction sites nationwide from August to October last year for compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
First, at construction sites nationwide, authorities uncovered a total of 258 violations. Of these, 30 cases—including failure to install safety railings and work platforms, failure to secure access ways, failure to prevent excavation-face collapse, and failure to comply with standards for formwork and shoring—were referred for criminal action, while corrective orders were issued for the rest. In addition, 532 million won in fines were imposed for management failures such as not conducting safety training and not appointing safety managers.
At POSCO E&C's headquarters, 145 violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act were detected, including delayed appointment of safety and health managers, inadequate formation and operation of the industrial safety and health committee, and improper use of industrial safety and health management expenses. For this, 236 million won in fines were imposed.
The ministry assessed that POSCO E&C's internal safety and health management system is fundamentally insufficient. In particular, the chief safety officer (CSO) and the safety and health organization hold lower ranks than other business divisions such as building, plant, and infrastructure, making it difficult to issue safety-related directives to construction-leading departments. In addition, as of September last year, only 34.2% of on-site safety and health managers were regular employees, a level significantly lower than the 40%–60% at major builders.
Although POSCO E&C allocates a special budget for safety and health, the investment ratio to sales has recently declined. The ministry also pointed out shortcomings in areas including ▲ safety and health manuals ▲ risk assessment ▲ safety-level evaluation when selecting partner firms ▲ high-risk work management ▲ construction machinery and equipment management ▲ systems for gathering workers' safety and health opinions ▲ evaluation of organizational and individual safety performance.
The ministry recommended that POSCO E&C "elevate the CSO position to at least the level of a business division head to strengthen the standing of the safety management organization so it can effectively oversee safety and health," and "establish minimum safety investment standards by guaranteeing a certain level of special safety and health budget and expand support for safety strategy budgets."
Minister Kim Young-hoon of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said, "POSCO E&C must thoroughly overhaul its safety and health management system across the organization and approach this with the resolve to stake the corporation's survival on ensuring that serious accidents are no longer repeated."