Police probe Ourhome plant after worker caught in conveyor belt

Police and labor authorities raided a factory run by the food company Ourhome in Yongin, Gyeonggi, on Tuesday, the first compulsory step in their investigation of an accident that left a worker in critical condition after being caught in a conveyor belt. 

Investigators from the Gyeonggi Nambu Provincial Police Agency and the Gyeonggi Regional Employment and Labor Office searched Ourhome's Yongin No. 2 plant at 9 a.m., about two weeks after the accident and the first such action in the case.

The two agencies sent in 22 investigators to collect work plans, safety management records and documents on measures adopted to prevent a recurrence after earlier accidents. They gathered the materials from two locations, including an on-site office, and are also analyzing digital data.

Using the seized materials, investigators plan to establish how the accident happened and whether required safety measures were in place, then assign responsibility and pursue criminal charges against those at fault.

"The prime contractor and the subcontractor operating inside Ourhome's Yongin No. 2 plant are the targets of the search," a Ministry of Employment and Labor official said. "We will closely examine whether safety measures to prevent entrapment accidents, such as guards on the conveyor equipment, were sufficient."

Police have found that the conveyor belt had no safety cover, a guard fitted over the top of a belt to keep a worker's body from touching the rotating shaft. They have booked one safety manager each from Ourhome and its subcontractor.

The accident happened around 2:50 p.m. on June 8, when a subcontractor worker had their neck caught in the rotating shaft of a conveyor belt in a fish cake packaging room on the fourth floor of the Yongin No. 2 plant. The worker was seriously injured, taken to a hospital and has not regained consciousness.

Separately, the Labor Ministry has begun a comprehensive inspection of Ourhome covering industrial safety and labor, examining whether the company violated the Occupational Safety and Health Act.

The plant has a history of similar accidents. In March last year, a foreign worker suffered serious injuries when her hand and arm were caught in a machine. A month later, in April, a Korean worker died after their neck was caught in machinery.

 BY HAN YOUNG-HAE [[email protected]]