Four deaths in three weeks at DSME prompt investigation calls

Seoul: Senior management at leading Korean yard Daewoo Shipbuilding and Marine Engineering has promised a safety crackdown following a spate of fatalities in the first few weeks of 2010. Within a period of just over 20 days, four workers at DSME died while on duty. Industry insiders have called for tightened safety measures and a special inspection into the facility to put an end to what is being called a "chain of death." ??
According to the trade union of DSME, a 45-year-old Lee, a subcontracted painter, died from the explosion of a paint container that occurred Wednesday, 11:30 a.m. at the company's plant in Geoje, South Gyeongsang Province. ??Lee and his coworkers were applying inflammable paint thinner through a hose with a small nozzle, when a high amount of friction caused the explosion. He was moved to a nearby hospital but died some 16 minutes later. Doctors declared that Lee died of extreme burns.
??Lee's death is the third disastrous incident at the site since New Year's Day. The first took place on Jan. 2, when two workers of a subcontractor died of extreme inhalation of argon gas. The third victim drowned by falling from a service tower on Jan. 8.  [22/01/10]