Awuhome has been found in violation of industrial safety and labor laws, resulting in fines totaling 86.3 million won, following a series of fatal accidents, including one this year. The company was also confirmed to have illegally dispatched 45 workers in its manufacturing process.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on November 9 that it identified 92 legal violations during joint inspections of Awuhome's nine manufacturing plants from June 16 to October 30. Of these, 13 cases will be prosecuted, and fines totaling 86.3 million won were imposed on 37 violations. The remaining 42 cases will require corrective action.
Last year, a worker at Awuhome's Yongin Plant died after getting caught in a fish cake cooling machine. In June of this year, another worker from a partner company suffered a similar fate when a hairnet became entangled in a packaging conveyor, leading to his death on July 15 after being in a coma. Following the incidents, police launched an investigation, criminally charging safety management personnel and conducting a search of the Yongin Plant.
Among the 53 violations identified in the industrial safety sector, nine will be prosecuted, and fines of 86.3 million won will be imposed on 37 violations, while seven will require corrective measures. Notably, despite the June conveyor incident, it was discovered that other plants continued to use conveyors that had not undergone safety inspections. The Ministry plans to impose a fine of 18 million won for these two violations.
Of the nine inspected plants, six failed to provide special safety training for 42 conveyor operators, and four delayed training for some workers. Among these 46 workers, 44 were from partner companies.
Additional violations included the lack of measures to prevent entrapment between conveyor belts and rollers, failure to install chain covers on power transmission parts of food processors, and inadequate safety measures for mixer inlets. Risks of electric shock and falls were also identified due to ungrounded extension cords and missing stair railings.
In the labor standards sector, 39 legal violations were identified. The Ministry found that a primary partner company at the Yongin Plant illegally dispatched 45 workers from a secondary partner company to perform direct production processes without valid reasons.
The Ministry plans to immediately criminally charge the secondary partner company and instruct the primary partner company to directly employ the 45 dispatched workers.
Additionally, violations included underpayment of overtime and holiday work totaling 24 million won, along with 31 other labor law violations related to exceeding overtime limits.
Given the repeated fatal accidents at Awuhome and Hanwha Aerospace, the Ministry will guide the Hanwha Group in developing comprehensive improvement measures and will conduct follow-up inspections to ensure compliance.
Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon stated, "The recurrence of fatal accidents at a leading South Korean corporation, along with numerous legal violations in industrial safety and labor, indicates a failure to fulfill the social responsibilities commensurate with the company's size and status. Growth achieved at the expense of workers' lives and safety cannot be a source of pride." He emphasized the need for the highest management of the group to take responsibility and fundamentally reform safety management systems and labor practices.
* This article has been translated by AI.
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