HD Hyundai Heavy Industries safety spending is set to increase by KRW 17 billion in 2026, with the additional funds covering shipboard communications, hazard detection and training. Announced on 28 September, the package forms part of a safety roadmap running to 2030.
The safety investment plan combines equipment upgrades with clearer responsibility for work on site. Since 14 September, the shipbuilder has assigned safety managers to different categories of work, including routine, non-routine and high-risk tasks. It also plans to reorganise safety teams to suit each division’s activities, expand its safety management office and establish a safety technology department responsible for production-method improvements and site inspections.
Inside ships, wider use of metal surface wave communications is intended to address poor signal coverage in enclosed compartments and other communication dead zones. The company plans to connect the technology to emergency alarms so that crews can receive warnings and evacuate promptly.
Vision sensors are planned for inspection areas and locations exposed to accident risks, with deployment dependent on the conclusion of labour-management consultations. They will provide real-time detection of hazards. Body cameras are planned for lone workers and patrol duties to support cross-checking of hazards and help identify dangers that might otherwise go unnoticed.
In its September announcement, the company scheduled a committee to examine how effectively risk assessments work on site between October and December. It also plans to reassess the steps taken to prevent recurrence following serious and high-risk incidents over the previous decade. Each business division will prepare safety arrangements for foreign workers, using multilingual interpretation and AI-assisted educational support.
The investment announcement followed fatal incidents at the shipbuilder’s facilities. A subcontractor died in a fire on a submarine being maintained at Ulsan in April. In July, two subcontractors died in separate trapping incidents: one inside an LNG carrier’s cargo tank at Ulsan on 18 July, and another at Gunsan on 24 July.
A worker was also found dead in a boiler machinery room in August. Hinews reported on 21 September that the cause of that death had not been established.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor began intensive inspections on 18 August, covering the Ulsan and Gunsan yards, headquarters and factories designated as particularly high-risk workplaces. Checks included whether corrective action from earlier incidents was being implemented. According to Hinews, the ministry subsequently said that the inspections had been upgraded to formal special inspections from 1 September.
