SKhynix is stopping all construction because 3 workers died due to an accident at the semi-conductor product line construction site. Because of this accident, they are taking stance now to do safety inspection and establish prevention measures before construction begins again.
SKhynix came out publicly apologizing for the nitrogen leakage accident on April 30th that killed 3 people and hurt 4 people.
“We thought we made a lot of effort into safety measures, but we are heartbroken and truly sorry that this had to happen.” Kim Jun Ho, who serves as the president of management support team, said at the briefing in Icheon. “To consolidate all families who lost their loved ones, we will put all of our efforts on all aspects making sure everything is right.”
Company came to understanding that the cause of this accident was due to nitrogen leakage. It is going to find out why nitrogen leaked by having the National Scientific, Criminal, and Investigation Laboratory and police thoroughly investigate the scene.
This accident happened on the 30th around 11 A.M. when a worker and two subcontractors went inside an exhaust scrubber to see if an insulator had any defects or not. Exhaust scrubber has a dimension of 1.5x1.5x2.5m and its purpose is to combust organic materials into LNG and reduce them.
Company explained that it test ran an exhaust scrubber on the 29th, and it was working normally. So on the 30th, company sent workers for them to personally check insulator inside the scrubber, and that is when the accident occurred.
Kim Dong Kyun, who works as the vice president of SKhynix safe environment department, explained to the reporters that “We usually measure the oxygen concentration with a measuring device, but we can’t confirm if they actually did it."
He also added that there weren’t any regulations for wearing safety equipments since one needs to only measure the oxygen concentration to check the insulator.
The company issued a warning when the concentration is at 20% and an evacuation when it is at 19%. But the level was at 21%, which indicates that it is not harmful, when they measured it after 2 hours from the time accident occurred.
SKhynix is stopping all construction due to an accident and it is planning to do so until they do safety inspections and have solutions to stop any further injuries from happening. They were expecting the construction for product line to be finished early this year, but now they face inevitable problems due to an accident.
Staff Reporter Bae,Okjin | withok@etnews.com