The construction site of the Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA), the largest investment project in Georgia’s history, has been plagued by industrial accidents due to a Korean corporate culture that pushes workers to “Bbali bbali” (translated as “hurry, hurry”) culture.
More than 20 accidents occurred at the Bryan County Megasite, home to seven companies, from January last year to May this year. This figure does not include non-traumatic accidents such as heat stroke.
In the first five months of this year, there were 13 workplace accidents, including two falls, two head injuries, and four car accidents. In addition, there were no systematic emergency response measures or interpreters to communicate with emergency medical services (EMS) responders when accidents occurred.
For example, on May 31, a 40-year-old Korean man was injured at the construction site of logistics automation company SFA at the factory site. According to site records provided by emergency medical services (EMS) rescuers to nonprofit investigative journalism outlet The Current under the Freedom of Information Act, the man was caught in a conveyor belt and suffered serious injuries to his lungs, left thigh, and right hand.
The emergency medical team arrived 15 minutes after the site manager reported the conveyor belt entrapment, according to the emergency response logs. The man was unconscious at the time, and rescuers administered emergency treatment on site, including hemostasis and placement of a pulmonary catheter, for 37 minutes before transporting him by helicopter to Memorial Health Medical Center in Savannah.
Because workers at the site spoke only in Korean, first responders were unable to learn the man’s name and age, and the hospital used a temporary name during the admission process.
The federal Department of Labor’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) classified the incident as an amputation-type traumatic occupational injury but did not issue a separate investigative report or impose penalties. MetaPlant said the man is still receiving medical treatment.
OSHA is currently conducting 10 investigations. One of the cases involves a February 16 fall of a former company employee in Georgia who was working at a height of about 15 feet without a safety measure. Emergency response records from that incident reveal site managers’ lack of initial workplace injury response.
“In a large warehouse lot, the supervisor in charge of directing traffic was unaware of the patient’s location, and as many as 20 to 30 workers touched the patient without permission, causing significant delays in treatment,” the EMS wrote. OSHA cited the company with two safety violations and fined it $22,000 on August 13. The company is appealing the penalty.
Hyundai Motor Group is not disclosing the identities and health conditions of the injured workers. The only workplace fatality at the HMGMA construction site whose identity was disclosed after an official OSHA investigation was Victor Javier Gamboa, 34, who lost his life in a fall last April. OSHA fined Louisiana-based Eastern Constructors, the general contractor for the Hyundai construction, $167,724 last November for the death.
BY CHAEWON JANG, HOONSIK WOO [jang.chaewon@koreadaily.com]
