'Late Lee Seonho Death Accident' Original Contractor Requests Work Resumption Without Safety Measures

Published 13 May.2021 22:02(KST)

[Asia Economy Reporter Park Hyungsoo] It has been confirmed that Dongbang, the primary contractor that received a work suspension order following the death of young worker the late Lee Seonho at Pyeongtaek Port last month, requested the authorities to resume work.

According to the accident report obtained by Democratic Party lawmaker Ahn Ho-young from the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 13th, the Pyeongtaek branch of the Ministry of Labor immediately dispatched personnel to the site on the 22nd of last month, right after Lee was crushed to death by a 300kg container wing at Pyeongtaek Port, and verbally issued a partial work suspension order.

Dongbang requested the Ministry of Labor to lift the work suspension order on the 4th, 12 days after the accident occurred. The Ministry rejected the request, citing insufficient overall safety measures at the workplace and inadequate plans to prevent similar accidents.

According to the Ministry of Labor, which supervised the accident site on the 26th and 27th of last month, immediately after the accident, the primary contractor did not take any industrial accident prevention measures such as workplace patrol inspections. The person responsible for workplace management and supervision failed to perform duties such as pre-inspections to prevent the container wing from toppling. There was no safety passage to prevent workers from being hit by falling objects. Protective gear such as safety helmets was not properly provided to workers, and the late Lee Seonho was working without a safety helmet at the time of the accident.

The Ministry of Labor decided to take legal action on 10 violations of regulations that were identified and impose fines totaling 193 million won on 7 cases.