The Ministry of Employment and Labor and the police have conducted a search and seizure of POSCO Engineering & Construction related to an accident in which a worker died after getting caught in the rotating part of a drilling machine at a construction site in Uiryeong, Gyeongnam.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor's Changwon Office and the Gyeongnam Provincial Police Agency stated that they have been conducting search and seizure operations at the headquarters and on-site office of POSCO Engineering & Construction since the morning of the 19th. About 50 labor inspectors and police officers have been involved in this operation.
A Ministry of Employment and Labor official noted, "We plan to thoroughly examine compliance with safety rules and protective measures to prevent entrapment accidents, as well as the structural causes behind the repeated serious accidents at the construction company." He added, "Based on the evidence secured from this search and seizure, we will conduct a strict and prompt investigation into violations of the Industrial Safety and Health Act and the Serious Accident Punishment Act."
There have been four fatal accidents at POSCO Engineering & Construction this year. These include: a fall accident at an apartment construction site in Gimhae, Gyeongnam, in January; a collapse accident at a construction site for the Shin-Ansan Line in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi Province, in April; a fall accident at a mixed-use construction site in Daegu in April; and an entrapment accident involving a drilling machine during construction of the expressway section between Hamyang and Changnyeong in July. On the 4th, there was also an incident where a Myanmar worker identified as Mr. A suffered an electric shock on the construction site of the Gwangmyeong-Seoul Expressway, from which he regained consciousness eight days after the accident.
Previously, the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the police conducted a search and seizure of the headquarters of POSCO Engineering & Construction on April 25 and the 12th to ascertain the causes of worker deaths and electric shock accidents.