Safety inspections completed at SPC Group affiliates following worker's death

SPC Group's headquarters in Seocho District, southern Seoul [SPC GROUP]

Safety inspections have been fully completed on all 28 factories of SPC Group affiliates, with the companies adding necessary safety measures to help prevent accidents.

The safety inspections were conducted by associations certified by the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The associations include Korea Industrial Safety Institute, Korea Industrial Safety Association, Safety and Health Advancement Institute and Korea Safety Technology Association.

In October, a 23-year-old employee working at a SPL bread factory died after getting caught in an industrial mixer. Because the accident happened at SPL — owned by Paris Criossaint, which is wholly owned by SPC Group Chairman Hur Young-in and his family — Hur promised to conduct safety inspections on all SPC Group affiliates.

SPL finished installing and fixing all safety systems it was ordered to apply after the inspections. Other SPC Group companies have finished applying 90 percent of such changes as of Thursday.

Each factory received an average of 10 safety measures to which they must adhere, such as adding safety locks that stop machines such as mixers when the lid is opened.

Additional measures the factories needed to apply include installing safety handrails, safety nets and lids.

A separate safety inspection is currently being conducted on SPL by the Labor Ministry. When the results come out, the company said, it will quickly apply any additional safety measures the ministry prescribes.

“We apologize again for the accident at SPL, and conducted a safety inspection on all our companies to find even any minor fixes needed to enhance safety at our factories,” said a spokesperson for SPC Group. “We will apply the remaining safety measures to our factories and establish additional plans to improve safety at our workplaces.”

BY LEE TAE-HEE [lee.taehee2@joongang.co.kr]