Koo Kwang-mo's 'Safety Philosophy'

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Park So-yeon] "Do not work if a risk is identified and that risk is not resolved."

This is the safety management policy recently announced by Koo Kwang-mo, Chairman of LG Group, at a management meeting. After safety accidents occurred at major LG Group business sites, the group head personally set a benchmark for safety management.

According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the business community on the 16th, LG Group is currently working on changing all regulations within the group based on Chairman Koo's safety-first management philosophy.

First, LG Chem has formed a team of in-house environmental safety and process technology experts along with external environmental safety specialists to conduct a detailed diagnosis of hazardous processes. Last month, they conducted an emergency inspection of high-risk processes and facilities at all 40 business sites worldwide, including 17 domestic and 23 overseas locations.

LG Chem plans to immediately address the improvements identified in the emergency and detailed inspections, and temporarily suspend operations of processes and facilities that are difficult to fix in the short term until they are resolved.

Additionally, LG Chem will hold special management meetings twice a month, chaired by the CEO, with participation from heads of business divisions, the Chief Financial Officer (CFO), Chief Human Resources Officer (CHO), and environmental safety officers to secure world-class safety management.

They plan to implement fundamental improvements in overall process innovation from emergency and detailed inspection progress checks, investment reviews, to installation and operation stages, as well as in environmental safety budgets and personnel evaluation systems.

An IT system that can block investments without perfect safety assurance from the design stage, regardless of scale, will be established domestically by the end of this year and overseas by the first half of next year.

LG Electronics has also emphasized safety management by introducing a 5G-based digital security system at production sites. This system monitors factory premises 24/7 without blind spots in real time and detects equipment abnormalities, failure to wear safety helmets, and access to hazardous areas using advanced artificial intelligence analysis technology.

With AI analysis technology, it can quickly respond by detecting steam smoke or flames caused by equipment abnormalities such as pipe damage, and it also preemptively identifies abnormal temperature changes in high-temperature equipment like outdoor incineration tanks.

Meanwhile, Shin Hak-cheol, Vice Chairman of LG Chem, is reported to have personally conveyed LG Group's safety management efforts to Lee Jae-gap, Minister of Employment and Labor, recently.

An official from the Ministry of Employment and Labor said, "The government views very positively the fact that the group head and CEOs are directly involved in ensuring workplace safety," adding, "Going forward, companies and the government will cooperate to make every effort to prevent accidents."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.