"My daughter doesn't even have a boyfriend yet..."
This is what my father, Lim, said the moment he was taken to the hospital in an accident that was crushed by an 800kg machine.
Ten months after his death, the daughter stood in front of a station camera for her father.
“I want the people in charge of the company to be severely punished for the accident.” (Lim's daughter)
It was snowing on the morning of January 5th.
Lim was supplying test machines to an automobile parts manufacturing company (Company A) in Asan, South Chungcheong Province.
It was a business trip with an acquaintance and a truck driver, loading machines from his factory in Gyeonggi-do from dawn.
Lim has been an expert in making equipment for testing automotive parts for 30 years.
At one time, there were close to 200 employees in the Chinese factory alone, but it was closed at the end of last year in the aftermath of the 'THAAD retaliatory measure' four years ago.
This contract to supply equipment over 100 million won to Mr. Lim was important.
The wife said that her husband did not take a break even on New Year's Day to clean and tidy up the machine.
"My husband liked it very much, because he is a person who only cares about work. Originally, my husband went on a business trip to China and was going to deliver the machine at the end of December last year, but Company A told me not to come because there was a closing ceremony. January 3 It was the Lunar New Year's holiday until, and when I tried to go down the next day, they said, 'It's not like opening ceremony.' So I went on January 5. I went on a business trip in the early morning, but I thought it would happen in a few hours..." (Lim's wife)
A total of four machines were taken by Mr. Lim and his party.
An employee of Company A drove the forklift and unloaded machines from the truck one by one, and other Company A employees and Mr. Lim's party watched the work from their side.
The accident occurred when the third machine was unloaded.
The machine placed on the forklift fork (leg) lost its center and fell to Mr. Lim.
An acquaintance of Mr. Lim, who witnessed the accident while accompanying him to work, stated that the condition of the forklift was unstable at the time.
"I was worried about the forklift's extra feet, but if the forklift's legs are short, we put the extra feet on the forklift's legs to make them longer. , I got off the third machine without fixing the extra foot. As a result, one of the forklift’s extra feet could not be fixed, and the legs were long on one side and short on the other. It’s okay if the forklift driver doesn’t move the forklift…” (A statement from an acquaintance of Mr. Lim)
It was also said that Mr. Lim approached the forklift he was working on to help with the unloading.
“The machine has wheels, but when getting off the vehicle, the wheels must be fixed so that they do not move, and when getting off the vehicle, the wheels must be released just before disembarking so that the machine can be pushed and pulled after dismounting. CEO Lim was unscrewing the wheel of the machine that came out of the truck, so I went to the side where the machine was coming out and wanted to loosen the wheel, so I went in the opposite direction to CEO Im, but the machine tilted and passed over to CEO Im.”
(A statement from an acquaintance of Mr. Lim)
Lim, who was crushed by an 800 kg machine, was taken to the hospital, but eventually died.
In that brief moment of not letting go of consciousness, these were the last words of Mr. Gaeim, who worried about his family.
The rest of the family had to go through a police investigation and a funeral without any time to be sad.
In the process of rectifying the accident, Company A has denied any responsibility.
"The CEO of Company A stated, 'It's unconditional that she doesn't know, and her husband asked an employee of Company A to do the work.' The company's employees don't say, 'Then do it.' Besides, it's a machine that costs over 100 million won, and the CEO can't be ignorant."
(Lim's wife)
"The CEO of Company A didn't even say a word of apology to us. Even at the funeral home, he puts 1 million won in a company envelope and handed it over to us as a subsidy. It felt more like a joke, so I just gave it back."
(Lim's daughter)
Company A is claiming that "the direct cause of the accident was that Mr. Lim acted irrationally within the driving range of the forklift."
"Mr. Lim suddenly brought the goods without notifying the person in charge of Company A, and asked the employee of Company A to help unload the goods without formal procedures. Mr. Lim asked that he directly instruct the operation from behind and the unloading work was done. We lost, but while disembarking the third machine, Mr. Lim, who should manage and supervise safety, rather approached the forklift and unfortunately got into an accident.”
(Preparation by Company A)
Asan Police Station in Chungcheongnam-do has sent an employee of Company A who drove a forklift to the prosecution on charges of negligent manslaughter.
The CEO of Company A and the head of the delivery team were acquitted of allegations of negligent manslaughter, but the bereaved family raised an objection and a re-investigation is underway.
If the results of the investigation do not change, in the end, only the forklift driver will be brought to trial.
The reporters showed the CCTV footage at the time of the accident to incumbent forklift drivers and asked for advice.
They said, "I have to fix the extra foot on the fork of the forklift so that it doesn't come off, but it seems to keep coming off because I don't." "The moment I put the machine on the fork, one of the extra feet comes off and the machine seems to have tipped over."
He also said that even though the forklift operation is risky, unskilled personnel are often employed.
In the end, it was all about reducing work time and labor costs.
This is the reason why accidents cannot be fundamentally prevented simply by holding the individual employees of Company A responsible for driving the forklift.
A person who can only operate a forklift by a competent person with a license, must have a signal attendant to assist in this, and can demand improvement if the procedures are not followed.
When we put the blame on that person, we will be able to save another Mr. Lim.