At OURHOME's Yongin Plant 2, where a worker died last year, a similar entanglement accident occurred again after about a year, intensifying debate over the effectiveness of measures to prevent a recurrence.
OURHOME said it pursued investments in safety equipment and strengthening its safety management system after the accident, but as the same type of accident has been repeated at the same establishment, critics say a thorough check is needed to confirm whether the safety investments actually worked on the ground.
According to the food industry on the 7th, on the 8th of last month, at OURHOME's Yongin Plant 2 in Cheoin District, Yongin, Gyeonggi, a subcontractor-affiliated worker in his 50s suffered an accident in which his neck was caught in the conveyor belt drive shaft on the fish cake skewer packaging line. Transported to a hospital in cardiac arrest, the worker is reportedly still unconscious.
The Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency and the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) conducted a search and seizure at the plant on the 23rd of last month, securing work plans, safety management materials, and documents on the implementation of recurrence prevention measures, and are conducting a compulsory investigation into possible violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. An OURHOME official said, "Results from analyzing the materials secured through the search and seizure will come out soon, and the MOEL's planned inspection results will be released separately," adding, "We are waiting for the findings."
This accident is drawing heightened scrutiny because it is similar to the fatal accident that occurred at the same plant in April last year. At that time, a worker in their 30s died after the neck was caught while inspecting the inside of a cooler. After the accident, OURHOME carried out precise safety diagnostics and equipment risk assessments across all manufacturing and logistics establishments and, along with expanded safety and environmental investments, released recurrence prevention measures including door interlocks (automatic stop when a door is opened during operation), complete blocking of entry into cooler drums, installation of safety railings, regularized CEO safety management inspections, and operation of seven absolute safety rules.
In fact, OURHOME is said to have executed a safety budget in the first half of this year that is close to double the budget allocated last year. An OURHOME official said, "We implemented related measures after the accident and also have documentation summarizing them," adding, "We are ashamed that another accident has occurred."
However, with a similar accident recurring after about a year, questions are being raised about whether the safety management system actually functioned properly on the production floor. In particular, at the scene of this accident, it was confirmed that a basic safety cover that shields the conveyor drive shaft was not installed. Police have booked the safety managers of OURHOME and the subcontractor and are investigating whether an emergency stop device was installed and whether protective measures were insufficient. Whether the protective equipment reinforcement measures released last year were properly applied to the equipment involved in this accident is also a key focus of the investigation.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) is also closely examining whether last year's corrective measures were implemented on site. An MOEL official said, "We are investigating overall, including the circumstances and cause of the accident and whether corrective actions after last year's accident were implemented," adding, "Because this is a repeat accident at the same establishment, we will make sure to check whether the items subject to corrective orders at the time were actually carried out."
This accident also aligns with the new administration's "eradication of repeated industrial accidents" stance. President Lee Jae-myung emphasized at Cabinet meetings he chaired on the 2nd and 23rd of last month that "it is a serious problem when the same type of accident occurs repeatedly at the same establishment." Minister Kim Young-hoon of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) also held an emergency inspection meeting on the 3rd with heads of major manufacturing corporations, including OURHOME, calling for expanding automatic protective devices and increasing safety investments. The MOEL is currently conducting an emergency inspection to prevent entanglement accidents at 1,000 business sites, including in manufacturing.
Experts agree that to prevent repeated industrial accidents, investment in safety budgets by corporations is important, but so are on-site execution and building organizational culture. Jeong Jin-woo, a professor in the Department of Safety Engineering at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, said, "Right after an accident, corporations cannot help but focus on preparing safety measures demanded by the government in a short period to minimize losses from production stoppages," adding, "In this process, there is a high possibility that document- and system-centered measures will be created rather than fundamentally improving on-site risk factors."
He added, "If a structure for continuously checking whether the safety management system works in line with actual working conditions is not established, similar accidents can recur even if the safety budget is increased," and said, "More important than whether recurrence prevention measures were drawn up is establishing and implementing a management system that evaluates how effectively measures were carried out on site."
Seo Yong-gu, a professor in the School of Business at Sookmyung Women's University, also said, "Safety is not a problem solved by one-off investments or declarations. It is important to foster a corporate culture in which the entire organization is acutely aware of risks," adding, "A system must be established to continuously check whether safety budgets are actually leading to on-site improvements."