Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon has ordered a stern response to the finger amputation accident involving two workers at SPC Samlip's Sihwa factory that occurred on the 10th. The Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to take legal action after investigating the cause of the accident.
On the 10th, the Labor Ministry issued a statement regarding the SPC Samlip Sihwa factory accident, saying "Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon has urgently ordered swift accident response and thorough investigation, recognizing this incident not as a simple accident but as a structural problem stemming from a comprehensive safety management crisis, in connection with the finger amputation accident involving two workers at the SPC Samlip Sihwa factory."
The Labor Ministry stated, "This workplace has experienced its third casualty incident within just one year, following a conveyor entrapment death in May last year and a major fire in February this year." It added, "Accordingly, the Ansan office of the Labor Ministry immediately dispatched labor inspectors to the scene after the accident to investigate the circumstances, implemented emergency safety measures including suspension of use for the accident equipment, and immediately booked relevant persons on charges of violating the Occupational Safety and Health Act."
The Director of the Occupational Safety and Health Supervision Bureau met with 20 executives including SPC CEO Do Se-ho that afternoon, directly requesting them to fundamentally review whether the company's safety measures are actually working on site and to prepare improvement measures. The Ansan office warned it would pursue legal action, including booking additional persons involved after investigating the cause of the accident.
Meanwhile, according to police and fire authorities, at approximately 12:19 a.m. on the 10th, an accident occurred in which parts of the fingers of two workers were amputated while they were replacing a conveyor sensor on the hamburger bun production line at the Samlip Sihwa factory in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province. The two workers reportedly went to work on the task after hearing that the conveyor sensor was malfunctioning while production workers had left their positions for meals.
Samlip has experienced three casualty incidents in the past year, including this accident. On May 19 last year, a female worker in her 50s died after being caught in a spiral cooling conveyor machine on the cream bun production line at the Sihwa factory. Subsequently, on February 3 this year, a fire broke out on the bread production line, and three of the 12 workers were transported to the hospital after inhaling smoke.
This is not all. Various accidents have occurred at SPC factories nationwide regardless of location. In October 2022, a female worker in her 20s died at the SPL bakery factory in Pyeongtaek after being caught in a machine, and in August 2023, a female worker in her 50s died the same way at the Shany bakery factory in Seongnam.
As fatal accidents continued to occur, SPC Samlip prepared measures including changing its company name from SPC Samlip to Samlip, but these have proven to be empty gestures.
