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

A subcontractor signalman crushed by a remicon vehicle died on September 9… The Ministry of Employment and Labor investigates whether there was a violation of the Serious Accident Punishment Act.

At a Hyundai Engineering construction site in Yangsan, Gyeongsangnam-do, a signalman in his or her 50s crushed by a remicon vehicle died while receiving treatment on September 9.

If the Ministry of Employment and Labor adds this accident to the list of accidents it submitted to the National Assembly last year, then after Hyundai Engineering CEO Cho Woo-jing took office, seven workers have died at the four sites of Anseong, Pyeongtaek, Asan, and Yangsan.

According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s Yangsan Office and Yangsan Police Station etc. on September 9, on the afternoon of September 6, a signalman in his or her 50s belonging to a subcontractor was involved in an accident in which he or she was caught by a remicon vehicle while it was reversing at the Hyundai Engineering apartment construction site in Mulgeum-eup, Yangsan. He or she was taken to the hospital and received treatment, but died three days later.

The labor authorities ordered a work stoppage at the site and said it plans to check whether there were violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Serious Accident Punishment Act. It is a situation in which more specific details of the accident, such as whether necessary safety measures were taken during vehicle movement, need to be confirmed.

The deaths at Hyundai Engineering construction sites are not the first.

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

CEO Ju Woo-jung attended the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee national audit last October and pledged to improve safety and quality standards. Subsequently, the board chaired by CEO Ju established the Safety and Health Committee in March this year and appointed Min Byeong-won, head of the Safety and Quality Division, as its chairman.

The compensation paid by Hyundai Engineering to CEO Ju Woo-jung was 1.018 billion won in 2025 and 533 million won in the first half of 2026, totaling 1.551 billion won from January 2025 to June this year.

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.

The government promulgated an amendment to the Occupational Safety and Health Act last month on the 27th that allows, in principle, imposing a surcharge of up to 5% of the average operating profit over three years if an employer violates safety and health measures and three or more workers die within one year. The provision takes effect on April 28 next year and applies to deaths caused by violations occurring after implementation.

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.