A worker in their 50s at a subcontractor died after being caught in machinery while working at the Taean Thermal Power Plant in Chungnam. This incident comes over six years after the death of the young non-regular worker Kim Yong-kyun at the same power plant.
According to police and other sources, at around 2:30 p.m. on the day of the incident, a worker, surnamed Kim (50), died while working in the machinery workshop of the KEPCO KPS Taean Thermal Power Business Office. By the time the fire department arrived after receiving reports from witnesses, Kim was already dead.
Kim was an employee of a subcontractor for KEPCO KPS. It has been confirmed that the location of the accident was a space leased by KEPCO KPS from Korea Western Power. A first witness reported that "it seems the accident occurred during a machinery inspection," but police, who secured closed-circuit (CC) TV footage from the site, believe that Kim met with an accident when he was struck by a rotating workpiece during machining.
According to police, it has been confirmed that Kim usually operated machining tools alone in the machinery workshop. Just before the accident, Kim was also working alone. However, it is said that he was performing machining tasks with materials different from those he usually worked with.
Police and labor authorities plan to investigate the exact cause of death through an autopsy on Kim. In particular, they plan to investigate the exact circumstances of the accident focusing on officials from Korea Western Power, KEPCO KPS, and the subcontractor. The police are also considering applying industrial safety and health laws and the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, depending on the results of the investigation.
This is not the first time a worker death incident has occurred at the Taean Thermal Power Plant. On Dec. 11, 2018, around 1 a.m., Kim Yong-kyun (then 25) died after being caught in machinery while checking an issue with a conveyor belt while working at the Taean Thermal Power Plant's Units 9 and 10. Kim Yong-kyun, a non-regular employee of a subcontractor, Korea Power Generation Technology Co., Ltd., was working alone despite the principle of two-person teams.
Following the death of Kim Yong-kyun, the Industrial Safety and Health Act was amended and enacted in January 2020 to strengthen the responsibility of primary contractors for industrial accidents involving subcontractor workers. Subsequently, the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, which imposes even stricter penalties, has been in effect since January 2022.