In response to a major safety incident that occurred in October, South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor and police conducted a surprise inspection of Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje Shipyard.
According to sources from Hanwha Ocean and the labor union on Thursday (November 27), approximately 40 investigators from the Changwon branch of South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor and the police conducted a search at Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje shipyard. The operation targeted a major fatal accident that occurred at the shipyard in October.
At around 10:40 am on October 17, at Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje Shipyard, workers were installing scaffolding structural parts using a crane when steel suddenly fell and hit an outsourced worker named A (in his 60s) who was working nearby.
It is understood that this is the second major safety incident involving Hanwha Ocean in recent times. At approximately 11:56 a.m. on September 3, Rodrigo Reis Barreto (39), an employee of Petrobras, fell overboard and died while working at the shipyard.
Following the fatal fall incident, Kim Hee-cheul, CEO and Representative Director of Hanwha Ocean, issued an apology and pledged to implement measures to prevent recurrence. However, based on the current situation, significant safety hazards persist in Hanwha Ocean’s on-site safety protocols.
In addition to fatal accidents, forklift incidents have also frequently occurred at Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje shipyard, with a total of 15 incidents in 2024 and multiple occurrences already this year.
South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 27th that on November 17, a 7-ton forklift at Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje Shipyard collided with a work truck during a moving operation. This marks the eighth forklift-related accident at the shipyard this year.
Sources revealed that the accident caused the forks (the bottom components that carry cargo) of the forklift to pierce through the side of the truck, penetrating the driver’s seat and the interior of the rear seats. Fortunately, no casualties were reported, but the incident posed an extremely high level of danger.
Notably, this forklift accident occurred less than a week after Hanwha Ocean CEO Kim Hee-cheul convened all employees and representatives of partner companies at the Geoje shipyard on November 12 for a “Safety Innovation Declaration Ceremony.” This incident starkly exposes the severe inadequacies in on-site safety management oversight at Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje shipyard.
Following the accident, the Hanwha Ocean Workers Union immediately suspended operations on 18 forklifts in the affected area and demanded that the company provide trauma counseling and other preventative measures for the truck drivers and their crew. In response, the company proposed solutions including training forklift drivers and signalmen in standard hand signals and providing walkie-talkies. The union lifted the suspension order on the following day (18th) for all forklifts except the one involved in the accident.
Despite Hanwha Ocean’s repeated promises to strengthen safety management, the frequent safety incidents this year prove that the lack of safety awareness at Hanwha Ocean’s Geoje shipyard has not been eliminated and special countermeasures are urgently needed.