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Today (11th) is the full day since the Act on Punishment of Serious Disasters came into effect.
In the meantime, there have already been three incidents where the law could be applied.
During the Lunar New Year holiday, three people were killed by a pile of dirt at a quarry in Yangju, Gyeonggi-do, and two people died in an elevator accident three days ago.
And the Yeosu explosion that you just saw is the third.
Among them, the government investigated Shampyo Industrial Co., Ltd., who suffered casualties in a quarry accident, for the first time since the law came into force, and today launched a large-scale search and seizure.
Reporter Han Sang-woo reported.
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Cars with clear signs from the Ministry of Employment and Labor arrive in a line with their warning lights on.
A search and seizure started at the Sampyo Industrial Headquarters in Jongno-gu, Seoul.
45 investigators, including forensics experts, are deployed at the same time, four or five times more than usual, and we have been analyzing data for over 9 hours so far.
Whether the company worked to prevent the accident is at the heart of the investigation.
An official from the investigation team said, "This is a procedure to reveal whether the Sampyo Industrial Headquarters has provided the necessary equipment for safety and confirmed compliance with safety rules, and who is ultimately in charge."
Like some companies, Sampyo Industrial has a chief safety officer who will take responsibility instead of the CEO in preparation for the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act, but to no avail.
This is because the Ministry of Employment and Labor only filed the case with CEO Lee Jong-shin, excluding the chief safety officer.
It is known that the Ministry of Employment and Labor is judging that Sampyo Industrial did not operate an organization that would manage safety with only a person in charge.
It is the first time since the enforcement of the law that the CEO has been booked, and Sampyo Industrial has also entrusted the case to the largest law firm in Korea to respond.
(Video coverage: Kim Yong-woo, video editing: Kim Kyung-yeon)
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