SPC Group slapped with ₩600M fine for safety regulation violations

SPC Group’s subsidiaries were reportedly fined by South Korea’s Ministry of Employment and Labor over violations related to safety at the workplace. The companies were slapped with a combined amount of KRW600 million or about $472,000.

Aside from the violations of safety regulations, Korea Joongang Daily reported that top management executives of the involved SPC companies may also be taken to court. Earlier this week, the MOEL said that 86.5% of the group’s operations were found to have violated the country’s Occupational Safety and Health Act.

Some of the offenses mentioned include the failure of the companies to provide safety and health education to employees, lack of safety measures for factory equipment and machinery, and below-average safety and health regulation, and management.

The company was probed after a 23-year-old worker at an SPL bread factory in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi died on Oct. 15. He was caught in an industrial mixer and did not survive in the accident. The said factory is said to be owned by Paris Croissant Co., which is wholly owned by SPC Group chairman Hur Young In. The bakery brand also operates the Paris Baguette chain.

These bakery companies are collectively known as the SPC Group, so they are involved in the case. It was said that officials also found that the firms failed to pay workers an amount totaling KRW1.2 billion.

After checking the factories, the government discovered that some of the machines do not have safety covers and were left open. There is no lock either, which is a requirement to make sure that the equipment is closed when undergoing maintenance, cleaning, or repair.

Moreover, in some of the processes at the factory, there is no safety manager to supervise the activities. Furthermore, some of the sites do not have emergency exits and have no record of industrial hazard reports.

The MOEL said it had ordered the suspension of 44 pieces of equipment, such as mixers, due to safety risks. In 33 SPC Group sites, night-shift employees were not paid, and this is the same with those working on holidays and paid leaves.