[Unofficial Korean-English translation provided by Business & Human Rights Resource Centre]

"Worker dies after being struck by rebar...Construction company head jailed under Serious Accidents Punishment Act," 23 June 2023

The head of a contractor whose lack of safety management led to the death of a Chinese migrant worker has been sentenced to probation.

On June 23, Judge Hyun Sun-hye of the Incheon District Court Criminal Division 10 sentenced Park (62), the CEO of Synergy Construction, to one year in prison and three years of probation for violating the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and fined Synergy Construction 50 million won. The court also sentenced two officials of subcontractors charged with violating the Occupational Safety and Health Act to six months in prison and two years of probation each.

[...] "Mr. Park has been fined in the past for violating the Occupational Safety and Health Act," the court said, "but he admitted his wrongdoing, vowed not to reoffend, and made an amicable settlement with the bereaved family."

[...] Park was accused of causing the death of a Chinese migrant worker, by failing to take proper safety measures at a construction site for a neighborhood facility in Eulwang-dong, Jung-gu, Incheon, at 9:40 a.m. on March 16 last year. The worker, a day laborer for a subcontractor, was adjusting the height of a steel bar supporting a formwork when the structure collapsed and an iron pipe hit his head.

[...]