A Worker's Death at HHI Shipyard

A 39-year-old man died after falling from a scaffold while working on a shipbuilding project at a yard owned and operated by Hyundai Heavy Indistries (HHI).

News ID: 67660

Date: 21 July 2016 - 10:43

The man fell off the scaffold on Tuesday afternoon while working on a project for Norway’s energy company Statoil and was taken to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead a couple of hours later, MANA correspondent reported.

The unfortunate man suffered injuries to his face and neck, and multiple fractures to his extremities.

This is the eighth fatality this year recorded at shipyards managed by HHI or its subsidiaries, according to The Korea Herald, with alleged poor safety conditions being identified as the main reason for the fatal accidents.

HHI was heavily criticized for subcontracting hazardous jobs to outside firms and failing to take responsibility for the work-related accidents.

According to Park Hye-young, a labor attorney for the Solidarity for Worker’s Health, the latest death was a preventable one.

“It is appalling that workers still have to die due to dangerous working conditions despite a series of similar kinds of deaths at Hyundai Heavy Industries’ shipyards,” Park was quoted by The Korea Herald as saying.

“This just shows the company’s indifference to workers’ deaths. Workers for subcontracting firms are exposed to bigger dangers because they have no labor unions to represent them.”