Labor ministry fines Ourhome 86.3 million won after two fatal accidents

South Korea's labor ministry said Monday it had fined Ourhome 86.3 million won ($63,554) and referred 13 cases for prosecution after a joint inspection of the food company's plants.

The June 16 to Oct. 30 inspection covered all nine Ourhome plants and was widened beyond industrial safety to working conditions, because this year's fatality involved a worker employed by a subcontractor. It found 92 violations, 53 in industrial safety and 39 in labor standards. Of those, 37 drew fines totaling 86.3 million won, 13 were referred for prosecution and 42 brought corrective orders.

The ministry said Ourhome kept using conveyors that had not received required safety inspections even after the June death at Yongin, and that six of the nine plants failed to provide or delayed special safety training for conveyor workers, 44 of the 46 people concerned at subcontractors. Inspectors also cited a missing guard at a mixer opening, an uninstalled chain cover on a tofu-making machine and an unguarded stairwell in a molding room.

Two people died at the Yongin plant: a direct employee whose neck was caught in a fish-cake cooling machine in April last year, and a subcontractor worker whose neck was caught in a packaging conveyor in June when a sanitary cap was pulled in.

The inspection also found that a first-tier subcontractor at the Yongin plant had taken on 45 workers from a second-tier subcontractor for direct production work, which the ministry deemed illegal subcontracting. The ministry said it had referred the second-tier firm for immediate criminal investigation and ordered the first-tier company to hire the 45 workers directly.

On labor standards, the ministry inspected 17 plants and in-house subcontractors and found 39 violations, including 24 million won ($17,674) in unpaid overtime and holiday allowances and 31 cases of exceeding overtime limits. Four were referred for prosecution and 35 brought corrective orders.

"At a major company representing the Republic of Korea, repeated fatal accidents and numerous violations across industrial safety and labor show that it has not fulfilled the social responsibility befitting its size and standing," Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon said.

"Growth achieved at the expense of workers' lives and safety can never be a proud achievement," Kim added, calling on the group's top management to overhaul safety management and labor practices rather than offer one-off fixes.

The ministry said it would press Hanwha Group affiliates, including Ourhome and Hanwha Aerospace, to adopt group-wide improvement measures and would re-inspect them to confirm the changes are carried out.