This photo taken July 29, 2025, shows POSCO E&C President and CEO Jeong Hee-min giving a briefing on a fatal incident at a construction site overseen by the company, at its headquarters in Incheon, just west of Seoul. (Image courtesy of Yonhap)
SEOUL, Aug. 5 (Korea Bizwire) — The head of POSCO E&C, the construction arm of South Korea’s leading steelmaker POSCO Group, tendered his resignation Tuesday, taking responsibility for a string of fatal industrial accidents.
POSCO E&C President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Jeong Hee-min said he felt a deep sense of responsibility for repeated fatal safety incidents under his leadership in a statement.
His resignation announcement came a day after a Myanmar national in his 30s was critically injured and lost consciousness in a suspected electrocution accident at an expressway construction site in Gwangmyeong, 20 kilometers south of Seoul.
The incident marked the fourth fatal accident this year at POSCO E&C-managed construction sites.
“POSCO E&C does not view this incident as a simple safety management failure, but as a grave warning that demands fundamental reform and thorough reflection on all aspects of the company’s operations,” Jeong said.
He called for a sweeping shift toward a site-centered, self-regulating safety culture involving all employees and subcontractors, with the goal of restoring public trust and pursuing sustainable growth.
The latest accident occurred just a week after the company declared an indefinite suspension of all construction activities on July 29 over the death of a worker at a highway project in Uiryeong, about 300 kilometers south of Seoul. The worker, a man in his 60s, died after becoming trapped in a drilling machine during slope reinforcement work.
On Friday, POSCO Group launched a company-wide special safety task force aimed at strengthening safety management across all operations in the wake of the recurring accidents.
The task force will conduct a comprehensive review of safety protocols and practices across the group’s steel, energy materials and infrastructure businesses, the group said.
On Tuesday, the Federation of Construction Associations (FCA) announced it will launch a similar task force aimed at eliminating industrial accidents at construction sites, in close cooperation with the central and local governments as well as the construction industry.
At a Cabinet meeting held on July 29, President Lee Jae Myung addressed the recent accidents, saying fatal workplace incidents could be seen as “murder by willful negligence,” and called on Cabinet members to devise measures to prevent industrial accidents.
(Yonhap)
