Kia worker crushed to death by car battery

Kia's manufacturing plant in Gwangmyeong, Gyeonggi [NEWS1]

A 49-year-old Kia worker died from being crushed by a 500-kilogram (1,102-pound) car battery at the automaker's Gwangmyeong plant in Gyeonggi.

The Gwangmyeong Police Precinct said Wednesday that the team leader-level worker's head was crushed under a 500-kilogram car battery at around 9:50 a.m. while he was disassembling vehicle components inside the car.

The worker was immediately taken to a nearby hospital where he was declared dead.

The vehicle was on a portable lift instead of the usual equipment installed at the plant. The worker was by the lower structure of the vehicle when the incident occurred.

"The police are investigating whether the portable lift is directly related to the cause of the accident," an official from the Gwangmyeong Police Precinct said. "We are also interrogating a worker who was working with the deceased."

The Ministry of Employment and Labor is looking into whether the case is subject to the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.

Under the Serious Accident Punishment Act that went into effect in January 2022, a business owner or business manager could face up to a year in prison or receive fines of up to 1 billion won ($759,000) when serious industrial accidents occur.

"We deeply regret the unexpected accident," Kia said in a statement. "We will fully cooperate with the police investigation, and will come up with countermeasures as soon as possible."

Meanwhile, local media outlets reported Wednesday that Kia will build a manufacturing plant in Thailand, its first facility in the Asean region. The groundbreaking for the facility, which will have an annual production capacity of 250,000, is slated for next year, the reports said.

Once completed, it will be Kia's sixth overseas factory after the United States, China, India, Slovakia and Mexico.

Kia, however, didn't confirm the reports, adding that, the company is "reviewing various scenarios for the overseas market, but no decisions have been made."

BY SARAH CHEA [chea.sarah@joongang.co.kr]