South Korea's Ministry of Employment and Labour (MOEL) has approved local shipyard Hanwha Ocean's application to resume its operations after it had been ordered to implement a partial shutdown in the wake of a fatal accident at its Geoje facilities earlier this year.
The ministry approved Hanwha Ocean's second application to resume work after a labourer employed by a subcontractor succumbed to injuries he sustained from falling over 30 metres onto a containership under construction on September 9.
The approval came after Hanwha Ocean announced that it would be investing the equivalent of US$1.3 billion to overhaul its existing safety management system.
The company's initial request to resume work was rejected by the MOEL after a review committee determined that there was still a lack of key safety measures at the Geoje yard nearly two weeks following the September 9 mishap.
A total of 18 accidents resulting in 22 deaths have occurred at a number of shipyards throughout South Korea from January to September of this year, the Federation of Korean Trade Unions confirmed in a separate statement. Among the shipyards under scrutiny, Hanwha Ocean had the highest reported death toll of seven.