By Kim Jae-heun

SPC Group's new Safety Management Committee Chairman Jeong Kap-young / Courtesy of SPC Group

SPC Group has launched a new safety management committee to take follow-up measures in response to the recent accidental death of a female worker last month at its affiliated bakery production facility in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi Province. Former Yonsei University President Jeong Kap-young will lead the committee as its first chairman.

The establishment of the committee comes nearly a month after SPC Group Chairman Hur Young-in made a public apology on Oct. 21 and promised to prevent any similar events.

The safety management committee will oversee all the affairs related to SPC Group's industrial safety, labor environment and social responsibility. The committee consists of one internal and four external members to secure independence and objectivity.

The company also founded a separate safety management bureau inviting working-level officials from different departments within the group.

Jeong is an expert who has led external advisory bodies to reform the government, law enforcement agencies and companies. He previously worked at the Board of Audit and Inspection of Korea and the Supreme Prosecutor's Office and is incumbent chairman of the board of directors at Korean Air.

"We have launched the safety management committee by recruiting external members with various expertise, led by Jeong, who promoted changes and reforms in various organizations. We will establish a new foundation for safety management by listening and actively reflecting the opinions shared by the committee," an SPC official said.

Meanwhile, SPC Group is sequentially conducting a company-wide safety inspection through four special external institutions certified by the Ministry of Employment and Labor in accordance with the "safety management reinforcement measures" the company announced on Oct. 21.

"As soon as the inspection is completed by the end of this month, our new committee will reveal our improvement plans for safety management," the official said.