Apparently in response to a series of recent fatal accidents, Hyundai Heavy Industries (HHI) has replaced its shipbuilding business representative and upgraded the position of CEO from vice president to president. HHI's Ulsan shipyard has had four fatal accidents this year.
HHI announced on May 25 that it has appointed Lee Sang-kyun, president of Hyundai Samho Heavy Industries (Hyundai Samho), as CEO of its shipbuilding business. Vice President Ha Soo resigned voluntarily to take responsibility for the safety accident.
HHI also said it will expand and reorganize its existing production headquarters into a safety production headquarters in order to make safety a top priority for production sites, while actively injecting human and material resources to prevent safety accidents by re-examining safety facilities and safety education systems in the future.
Related to the move, Kwon Oh-gap, chairman of HHI Holdings, apologized, saying, "I sincerely apologize for causing concern to the community as well as the public due to the serious accidents at HHI."
Chairman Kwon said, "As the number of safety accidents that have increased suddenly this year, we need to re-examine them at a fundamental level to see if the existing safety measures are losing their effectiveness."
Noting that HHI needs to re-examine safety measures, including safety facilities, education, and procedures, he stressed, "As safety is a valuable one that cannot be exchanged for anything, we will spare no efforts to ensure that all affiliates carry out management that puts safety as their top priority in the future."
Meanwhile, Vice President Kim Hyung-kwan will be appointed as the head of Hyundai Samho, which was vacated by President Lee Sang-kyun's move, and will officially take office after a temporary shareholders' meeting and a board of directors.
