Following two major fatal accidents within ten days, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries has halted operations across all its facilities for one day.
On July 20, HD Hyundai Heavy Industries announced a company-wide suspension of production for July 21 to conduct special safety training and prevent major fatal accidents. Aside from a partial work-stoppage order affecting specific gondola operations, production activities across the facilities are scheduled to resume on July 22.
This shutdown stems from a major industrial accident that occurred at the company a few days earlier.
At approximately 4:52 PM on July 18, an Uzbek subcontract worker (in his 20s) at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Ulsan shipyard was tragically killed after becoming trapped between a work gondola and the vessel’s superstructure while performing grinding work inside the cargo tank of an LNG carrier under construction.
Following the incident, the Ulsan office of South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor immediately issued a partial work-stoppage order to HD Hyundai Heavy Industries, mandating the suspension of all gondola operations related to the vessel involved in the accident.
On the day of the incident, the Hyundai Heavy Industries branch of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union issued a statement noting that a temporary work platform (scaffolding) had been installed within the operating range of the gondola, causing the gondola’s anti-overtravel device to malfunction. The union stated that whenever obstacles such as scaffolding are installed in the gondola’s work area, a risk assessment must be conducted immediately, followed by recalibration of the anti-overtravel device or adjustment of the work area; it criticized the company for failing to fulfill its fundamental safety obligations and called for the implementation of effective safety measures.
An official from the Ulsan police in South Korea stated: “We plan to verify whether the anti-overwind device was operational on the day of the accident, as well as the working conditions and adherence to safety protocols at the time.”
This marks the second fatal safety accident at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries in less than ten days and the fourth major accident at an HD Hyundai shipyard this year.
In April, a fire broke out on a submarine undergoing repairs at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries’ Ulsan shipyard, resulting in the death of a subcontracted worker responsible for sea trials; the worker was performing cleaning duties inside the submarine when the incident occurred.
In June, a cable-related accident occurred at HD Hyundai Samho; a mooring line snapped suddenly and struck a shipyard worker engaged in mooring operations, ultimately proving fatal.
On July 9, a worker at Ulsan plant of HD Hyundai M&S—a subsidiary of HD Hyundai Heavy Industries (formerly HD Hyundai Mipo, acquired at the end of 2025), tragically fell to his death from a height while performing maintenance work on a shipyard overhead crane.