In a bid to promote safety as the foremost value in its management practices, Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) Group has rolled out an intense set of Comprehensive Safety Measures.

The Group announced on Monday that under the Comprehensive Safety Measures, an additional KRW 300 billion will be invested over the next three years in improving and expanding the safety facilities of each worksite as well as safety training programs.



Notably, a total of KRW 160 billion of these funds will be used by HHI over the said period to bolster the Advisory Committee on Safety Innovation; give all workers the ‘right to demand safety improvement’; reorganize the safety functions; and make further investments in safety facilities, among others.

Following the appointment of Mr. Lee Sang-Kyun, President of Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (HSHI), to head HHI’s Shipbuilding Business Unit on May 25, HHI now plans to fundamentally inspect the effectiveness of its entire safety systems ranging from safety facilities, work process, and relevant organizations to safety trainings – to meet with experts of various fields to hear what improvements can be made.

For starters, HHI will engage the nation’s top-notch safety experts from outside, to expand and reorganize the Advisory Committee on Safety Innovation consisting of external experts, including safety certification agencies and professors, with a view to closely checking the overall safety systems and continuously addressing any deficiencies identified going forward.

Also, HHI is to grant all workers the ‘right to demand safety improvement’ which would allow workers to refuse work immediately upon identifying a risk factor at their worksite. Also planned within this year is to launch a special training program to promote safety awareness targeted for its entire 22,000 workers, which includes those of partner companies. Since the incorporation of a clause into the collective agreement to grant the labor union the ‘right to refuse dangerous work’ in 2015, HHI has been allowing work to be suspended by virtue of the union’s authority if the company fails to satisfy the union’s demand to address a shortcoming identified in the safety facilities falling short of legal requirements.

Further, a safety crisis management team will be set up by HHI to ensure regular safety checkups and inspections are conducted at all worksites for early detection of issues and prevention of accidents. At the same time, HHI will expand the existing support programs designed to help its partner companies to build their own safety management capabilities, including those aimed at encouraging a ‘safety-first mindset’ among the leadership, mandating and supporting safety certification as a precondition to work with HHI, and offering trainings and technical supports.

“No efforts will be spared at the Group level to ensure the effective implementation of the Comprehensive Safety Measures,” said Chairman Kwon Oh-gap of HHI Group. “While the primary responsibility to ensure safety falls on the company, it is no less important that all our people, with one accord, do their part to realize safety management practices,” stressed Mr. Kwon.