Five workers have died at South Korean shipyards within the first few weeks of 2024, raising industry concerns about pressures on safety as shipbuilders battle to deliver their groaning orderbooks amid labour shortages.
Those working within yards detailed that two personnel have died at Hanwha Ocean this year, one at Sungdong Shipbuilding, another following an incident at Samsung Heavy Industries in January and this week a death and serious injury were recorded at HD Hyundai Heavy Industries.
Reports seen by TradeWinds show that an employee diver died after being found unconscious at Hanwha Ocean in January.
Last month, Hanwha said there had been a fatal incident on 12 January at its Okpo shipyard. This publication reported that a 28-year-old employee from a subcontractor company died after being hit by pieces of flying metal and thrown more than 10 metres after a gas leak from a line during grinding work on a rudder block.
On 18 January, an employee of Dongwha Co aged 62 is understood to have suffered a head injury as a result of a fall on stairs at an SHI newbuilding quay. He later died in hospital.
Later that month, a large block was also reported to have fallen in the yard during a lifting operation, although nobody was badly hurt as a result of the incident.
In early February, a worker died following a 50-ton (45-tonne) crane collapse at Sungdong Shipbuilding.
This week, HHI said a senior manager from a subcontractor working died after being crushed by a 9,000-ton block drop. Another worker was seriously injured as a result of the accident.
All the fatalities this year are said to be under police investigations, with more detailed reports awaited on the accidents.
Those working on newbuildings in South Korea have highlighted the fatalities and incidents as a worrying trend.
“We are all concerned about the number of incidents, which is not normal,” one said.
Experienced yard personnel cited a long list of factors that they believe are ramping up pressures at shipyards, which are sitting on a large backlog of container ship and LNG carrier orders, and which could be filtering through to safety standards.
Among these are the high work loads at yards which are resulting in longer working hours and less time for breaks, one said.
Labour factors are another key issue.
One described how there are now more inexperienced younger workers on site especially after some of the senior staff have either left or been weeded out of the workforce.
He also highlighted a lack of skilled health, safety and environment team members.
The labour shortages at South Korean yards have also put pressure on shipbuilders to look overseas for their workers for the first time. Yards have sought to bring in new employees from countries such as the Philippines, Indonesia and Bangladesh.
Inflation is also said to be adding to the pressure on yards.
One insider spoke about how good designers have been lost to other industries as yard wages have slipped and said poor designs and production methods are being used to save time and money.
At the start of 2024, Clarksons Research’s forward orderbook — which is calculated as a multiple of the previous year’s production — stood at 3.4 years, very slightly down year on year but significantly higher than the 2.5 years logged at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic, implying a four-year wait on large tonnage.
