On Sept. 9, a worker in his 40s fell 30 meters from a container ship under construction at Hanwha Ocean's Okpo shipyard on the southern island of Geoje. He was severely injured and transported to the hospital in cardiac arrest but ultimately passed away.
Earlier this year, the Korean shipbuilder reported fatal accidents at its worksites on Jan. 12 and 25.
Hanwha Ocean said Wednesday it aims to create a culture and system where all personnel working at its facilities can work safely and healthily, prioritizing this as its top objective in order to become the world's safest shipyard.
The company plans to increase its safety-related budget to about 2 trillion ($1.5 billion) by 2026.
The budget consists of 1.13 trillion won for regular safety expenses and 846 billion won for new investments.
The regular safety budget will increase each year. This year, it will rise to 350 billion won, an increase of 28.8 billion won from last year. It will be 380 billion won next year and 400 billion won by 2026.
The new investment budget is allocated across six areas to fundamentally improve safety practices. The six areas include establishing a smart safety system, replacement of aging equipment and facilities, building an advanced safety culture, setting up a hands-on safety training center, enhancing safety support for partner companies, and conducting regular safety evaluations through external experts.
Hanwha Ocean will invest 65 billion won by 2026 to develop a comprehensive safety system that detects risks throughout the shipyard using AI technology.
A total of 700 billion won will be invested in replacing aging equipment. If potential risks are identified, equipment will be replaced regardless of its age or condition.
"After carefully analyzing internal and external feedback and the current safety conditions, we determined that a comprehensive reassessment of the existing safety management system is necessary," said Hanwha Ocean CEO Kim Hee-chul. "We plan to review safety management at a more thorough and fundamental level."
