At 9:10 a.m. on April 27, Chosok H.D., Geoje, Gyeongnam Province, South Korea. An unidentified explosion caused a fire in the shipyard. According to the latest news from Korean media, the number of people killed in the accident has increased to 2, and many others were injured.
According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s Tongyeong Regional Office on May 3, a subcontractor worker, B (over 60 years old), who worked at the Chosok H.D. Shipyard, was sent to the hospital for treatment of injuries sustained when the ship’s engine room exploded and caught fire.
Unfortunately, B was pronounced dead on the morning of May 3 after failing to receive treatment. According to reports, B was the head of engineering at Chosok H.D. Shipyard.
The other person killed, C., also a worker of the subcontracting company, was was cleaning oil with thinner in the engine room of a ship to be repaired. The accident caused serious injuries to C, who was taken to the hospital and pronounced dead at 10 a.m. on April 28. At that time, four workers, including C, were seriously injured, and another seven workers were sent to the hospital for treatment with minor injuries.
Chosok H.D. Shipyard, which was ordered to shut down immediately after the fire, has more than 50 regular employees and is subject to the Serious Accident Punishment Act.
After learning of the increased death toll, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions issued a statement demanding that relevant departments punish employers and conduct special labor supervision in the workplace.
“When subcontracting work, the original contractor must share work, time, etc., and manage it thoroughly to avoid mixing work,” the alliance said. However, judging from the circumstances of the explosion, the original contractor did not take relevant measures. Employers should be detained immediately, and the Employment and Labor Ministry should conduct special work supervision at the workplace. The Ministry should also conduct a comprehensive inspection of work where there is a risk of fire and explosion, such as painting and diluent operations at shipyards in Tongyeong district.
The Korean Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) is currently investigating the specifics of the accident and whether there were any violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Serious Accident Punishment Act.
