이 기사는 2022년 03월 03일 08시03분 thebell에 표출된 기사입니다

An accident has occurred at Hyundai Steel’s plant that killed a worker, which could be the first time that a company with a safety chief is being punished under South Korea’s strengthened disaster law.

Hyundai Steel’s worker fell into a large vat of a plating solution and died at the steelmaker’s Dangjin plant on Wednesday, leading police and officials from the country’s labor ministry to open an investigation on how the accident happened.

It is likely that the investigation will be focused on potential violations by Hyundai Steel regarding safety failures. If the investigation reveals that the company is responsible for the accident, it could be penalized under the Severe Disasters Punishment Act, which went into effect on January 27.

That would make Hyundai Steel the first to be punished as a company that has a chief safety officer, potentially giving more clarity on who will be held accountable by the new law.

The law imposes criminal penalties on a company’s head who violates safety and health regulations. Under the law, a company’s head is defined as “a person who represents the whole business and has power and responsibility to oversee the business, or who is in charge of health and safety matters”. This means the law could hold a firm’s chief executive officer or chief safety officer accountable for a severe industrial accident.

Before the enforcement of the new rule, many South Korean companies recruited experts internally and externally for their newly created roles of safety chief. Hyundai Steel also escalated its safety team akin to business units and appointed executive vice president Park Jong-seong as its chief safety officer.

However, some have raised questions about the role of chief safety officer because the new law says the fact that a company has a person in charge of health and safety matters doesn’t necessary means its chief executive officer is free from responsibility.

For a chief safety officer role to be effective, a person in the role should have the authority to make decisions on health and safety matters. A chief executive or at least a director on a company’s board could be deemed to have such power. Park is currently serving on Hyundai Steel’s board.

If any violation of the safety rules by Hyundai Steel is proved and the case goes to court, more clarity on legal interpretation related to a role of chief safety officer and who is held accountable could be provided.

Any potential punishment by the law would hit Hyundai Steel hard. The company posted a record operating profit of 2.44 trillion won ($2 billion) last year under chief executive Ahn Dong-il, whose term is expected to be extended. Park is viewed as a potential successor to Ahn.

“We will fully cooperate with the relevant authorities and created a team to handle the accident and identify the cause of the accident,” Hyundai Steel said in a statement on Wednesday. “We will put the highest priority on preventing such an accident from reoccurring.” (Reporting by Yong-kyu Kang)