In the past five years, 113 workers died from industrial accidents at Korea's 10 major construction companies.
According to data submitted by Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Jeong Jun-ho, a member of the Land Infrastructure and Transport Committee, from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport on the 21st, a total of 113 people died in accidents at the top 10 construction companies between 2020 and 2024. That means about 22 deaths each year.
The number of deaths has not fallen even after the Serious Accidents Punishment Act took effect in 2022. As of July this year, 16 people were found to have died.
From 2020 through July this year, Daewoo E&C had the most worker deaths from serious accidents, with 20. It was followed by Hyundai E&C (19), HDC Hyundai Development Company (18), Hyundai Engineering (14), and POSCO E&C (13).
At Hyundai Engineering alone, six people have died this year, and the penalty surcharge, estimated based on first-half operating profit (214.3 billion won), is projected to reach 10.7 billion won.
POSCO E&C also saw nine fatal accidents last year and this year. If it is difficult to return to the black by year-end due to a first-half operating loss, it will have to bear the minimum penalty surcharge of 3 billion won.
Korea's industrial accident fatality rate is high by international standards. Last year, Korea's accident fatality rate per 10,000 workers was 0.39, higher than Japan (0.12), Germany (0.11), and the United Kingdom (0.03).
Jeong said, "Investment in industrial safety should be viewed not as an expense but as a core asset that determines the long-term competitiveness of the nation and corporations," adding, "We must expand safety investment to fundamentally reduce industrial accident deaths."