English translation of the original Korean report. Images and source documents may contain Korean text.

Subcontracted spotter dies Nov. 9 after being run over by a concrete mixer truck; labor ministry investigates possible violations of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act

A spotter in their 50s died on Nov. 9 while receiving treatment after being run over by a concrete mixer truck at a Hyundai Engineering construction site in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province.

Including the Yangsan accident, seven workers have died at four sites—Anseong, Pyeongtaek, Asan and Yangsan—since Woo Jeong Joo took office as CEO of Hyundai Engineering, according to a tally based on last year’s accident records submitted to the National Assembly by the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

According to the ministry’s Yangsan office and the Yangsan police, the subcontracted spotter was run over by a reversing concrete mixer truck on the afternoon of Nov. 6 at a Hyundai Engineering apartment construction site in Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan. The worker was taken to hospital and died three days later.

Labor authorities ordered a halt to work at the site and will investigate possible violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. Investigators have yet to establish whether the required precautions were taken when the truck was moving.

The Yangsan death follows other fatal accidents at Hyundai Engineering construction sites.

According to data on fatalities subject to a disaster investigation that the Ministry of Employment and Labor submitted to the office of Rep. Kim Ju-young of the Democratic Party of Korea, four workers died in the Seoul–Sejong Expressway bridge collapse accident on February 25 of last year. Then, in the same year, on March 10 at the Pyeongtaek joint housing construction site and on March 25 at the Asan officetel construction site, one person each died in a fall accident.

At the time, the Ministry of Employment and Labor began planned oversight of Hyundai Engineering headquarters and 25 nationwide construction sites, but later, as deaths occurred, the effectiveness of safety management improvement measures again became an issue.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s Accident Investigation Committee cited the arbitrary removal of the bridge structure’s anti-toppling device, the rearward movement of equipment that did not receive safety certification, and inadequate on-site inspection as causes of the Anseong accident.

The Seoul Metropolitan Government issued Hyundai Engineering a three-month suspension of its civil engineering and building construction business in July of this year, and the Seoul Administrative Court accepted the company’s request for an injunction on the same date, the 29th.

■ Hyundai Engineering establishes Safety and Health Committee in March… Government implements surcharges in April next year

Woo Jeong Joo told the National Assembly’s Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee at its audit last October that the company would improve safety and quality standards. In March, the board, chaired by Joo, established a safety and health committee and named Min Byeong-won, head of the Safety and Quality Division, as its chair.

Hyundai Engineering paid CEO Woo Jeong Joo 1.018 billion won in 2025 and 533 million won in the first half of 2026, for a total of 1.551 billion won from January 2025 through June 2026.

Hyundai Engineering also successively announced safety management reinforcement measures. From April this year, it introduced a system to compensate wages and equipment standby fees when workers exercise their right to stop work, and in May it announced that it allocated a total of 161 billion won, adding about 83 billion won in its own funds to about 78 billion won in statutory safety management expenses.

However, as fatal accidents continue despite these measures, the need to verify whether safety measures are being properly implemented at worksites is growing. As of the end of June, Hyundai Engineering’s largest shareholder is Hyundai Engineering & Construction, which holds a 38.62% stake, and Hyundai Motor Group Chairman Chung Eui-sun holds 11.72% in his own name.

This accident occurred while the Lee Jae-myung administration was strengthening sanctions against repeated industrial accidents. President Lee Jae-myung instructed last August to review possible sanctions, such as revocation of construction licenses and prohibition from public bidding, after fatal accidents continued at Posco E&C.

On Oct. 27, the government promulgated an amendment to the Occupational Safety and Health Act allowing a financial penalty of up to 5% of an employer’s average operating profit over three years if at least three workers die within a year because the employer violated its safety and health duties. The provision takes effect on April 28, 2027, and applies to deaths resulting from violations that occur after it takes effect.

Employment and Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon ordered on the 7th at the meeting of heads of local offices nationwide to conduct unannounced re-inspections of whether violations detected through supervision have been corrected, and to supervise companies where the same type of serious disaster is repeated with intensity equivalent to special supervision. Regarding the Yangsan accident, police are investigating the cause of the accident and the safety management measures of the construction company and subcontractors based on on-site CCTV footage.