In connection with the worker fatality that occurred last year at Hansol Paper's Sintanjin Plant, it was belatedly confirmed that Han Kyung-rok, the CEO of Hansol Paper, was referred to prosecutors on charges of violating the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.
The Daejeon Regional Employment and Labor Office said on the 28th that it had referred Han to prosecutors without detention last month on charges of violating the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. The head of the Sintanjin Plant was also referred on charges of violating the Occupational Safety and Health Act.
The labor office determined that, although Han has a responsibility as a management representative to establish and manage on-site safety and health systems, Han bears responsibility for failing to prevent the fatal accident. The labor office sought arrest warrants for Han and the plant manager, but the court reportedly dismissed them.
After the accident, the labor authorities, together with police, conducted extensive searches and seizures of Hansol Paper's headquarters and the Daejeon and Sintanjin plants and carried out an intensive investigation.
Police have also separately booked the plant manager and other plant officials on charges of occupational negligence resulting in death and the case is under investigation. Police are also examining whether the safety management system functioned properly at the time of the accident and whether there was any negligence at the headquarters level.
The accident occurred at about 3:30 p.m. on Jul. 16 last year. Employee A, a new hire in their 30s working in the processing section of the production team at the Sintanjin Plant, died after falling into the machine through an opening hatch while moving waste paper into a pulp maker.
A was found dead inside the machine early the next morning, and it is known that neither colleagues nor company officials recognized until then that A had gone missing.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL), which visited the accident site, at the time criticized Hansol Paper strongly, calling it a "developing-country-style accident at a large corporation's plant."