SPC Group, under scrutiny after the death of a worker last month at one of its bread factories, continues to use dozens of machines that are the same model as the one involved in the accident.
According to the company's data submitted to Rep. Kim So-hee of the main opposition People Power Party, a total of 47 spiral cooling conveyors are currently in operation across SPC affiliates.
At SPC Samlip's bread factory in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province, where the deadly accident occurred, eight such machines are in use.
The machine cools products by moving them along a conveyor belt while providing ventilation. The accident occurred when the victim, a woman in her 50s, was applying lubricant to the chains from inside of the machine, and became caught in the revolving equipment.
She sustained multiple fractures on her head and her body and was pronounced dead on site.
Police investigation found that the 3.5-meter-tall cooling machines are supposed to have been run on automatic lubrication, but testimonies by factory workers showed they had to manually apply the lubricant due to the machines' deterioration. It is yet unclear if the machine the victim had been working on was among those with a deteriorated lubrication system.
Local police and officials from the Ministry of Employment and Labor on Tuesday conducted the first search and seizure on the SPC Samlip headquarters and the factory where the accident occurred. The court had rejected the police request for a warrant on three previous occasions, and gave the go-ahead on the fourth request on June 13.
Prior to the raid, police found that the victim had been carrying a container identical to one used for a lubricant intended for metal cutting, not for food processing. The lubricant can pose health risks if inhaled.
SPC Group claimed that the material the victim used during the accident was food-grade lubricant that does not pose health issues, and the factory just reused the container for a different lubricant. It also said the device on the conveyor prevents the lubricant from leaking onto the products.
The police have requested a testing on the container to the National Forensic Service.
In response to the accident, SPC group said Wednesday that it has launched a comprehensive safety inspection on all of its factories, which will be concluded by Saturday.
minsikyoon@heraldcorp.com
