Photo courtesy of Yonhap News

 

 

[Alpha Biz= Kim Jisun] SEOUL – South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor and police have conducted a search and seizure at Hansol Paper’s headquarters following the fatal fall of a worker during scrap paper processing.



On July 30, the Daejeon Employment and Labor Office and the Daejeon Metropolitan Police Agency dispatched about 35 inspectors and officers to Hansol Paper’s Seoul HQ and its Daejeon and Sintanjin plants.



Investigators will review seized materials to determine whether Hansol Paper violated the Occupational Safety and Health Act or the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. Authorities are also examining:



Whether proper fall-prevention safety measures were in place

If warning devices on the scrap paper input opening functioned correctly

Whether safety protocols were followed

How the company responded after the incident and why the accident went unnoticed for hours



The victim, a worker in his 30s at Hansol Paper’s Daejeon plant, was reported missing on July 16 and discovered the next day around 2 a.m. inside the scrap paper input machine. At the time, the company reportedly did not realize a fall accident had occurred.



This is not the plant’s first safety tragedy: in July 2022, a subcontractor worker was crushed to death by materials at the same site.

 

 

 

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