South Korea's labor ministry has left open the possibility of applying the Serious Accidents Punishment Act to DN Automotive, an auto parts maker suspected of manipulating workers' blood lead levels.
Ryu Hyun-chul, head of the Industrial Safety and Health Headquarters at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, told a press briefing at the Government Complex Sejong on the 19th that the ministry had issued an order for temporary health examinations but that these had not yet been carried out. The ministry will review the results of individual health examinations before determining whether occupational diseases are present and whether the requirements of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act have been met, Ryu said.
The law, which punishes business leaders responsible for serious industrial accidents, also applies when three or more workers develop occupational diseases such as acute poisoning from the same hazardous factor within a one-year period. If health examinations identify three or more cases of acute poisoning, DN Automotive could fall under the law.
DN Automotive is suspected of administering chelation injections, which force heavy metals out of the body, to workers ahead of special health examinations in order to prevent high lead readings. Following an earlier inspection, the ministry imposed fines and ordered a halt to the use of equipment in processes involving lead exposure. It has since launched a full inspection of about 150 workplaces nationwide that handle lead to determine whether additional workers have been harmed.
"This is clearly a distorted corporate practice of deliberately trying to lower only workers' blood lead levels without improving the working environment," Ryu said. "It is a matter that has shaken the foundation of the workplace environment measurement and special health examination systems maintained over several decades."
Current industrial safety law, however, limits the ministry's ability to punish DN Automotive directly. "The Occupational Safety and Health Act does not regulate chelation itself, so it is difficult to directly punish the act of lowering blood exposure levels in advance through injections," Ryu said. "If the National Assembly discusses amending the law to sanction acts that nullify the system, we will cooperate actively."