World - Samsung Cites Study Showing No Link Between Factories and Worker Deaths

Samsung Cites Study Showing No Link Between Factories and Worker Deaths
Kris Alingod

Seoul, South Korea

Samsung said a study it commissioned has found no connection between the deaths of six South Korean workers and chemicals at its semiconductor plants.

In a press conference, executives of the company and of U.S.-based Environ International announced an examination of three factories showed no evidence that working conditions caused the employees to develop cancer.

According to the government-funded Yonhap news agency, the study conducted by Environ covered six factories over the span of a year. "We did not find any link between exposure to cancer-causing chemicals and the health conditions of six employees," Fred Boelter, an Environ official, was quoted as saying.

The study was not publicly released to protect proprietary information. Lee Ki-ok, vice president for Samsung's legal team, told the Korea Times the company will release "a full report on the findings... not for gaining an edge in legal battles [but] to know whether we have any problems that may threaten the health of our employees."

Samsung, the world's largest electronic chip maker, has been facing claims from family members of workers who died of leukemia and other forms of cancer of the blood.

Last month, an administrative court ruled that the deaths of two employees were work-related, reversing a 2009 decision from the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service that Samsung was not liable. But the court decided in favor of the state -run agency in the the deaths of at least three other workers, saying these were not due to exposure to chemicals in factories.

The Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service has appealed the court decision on the two workers. The workers, Hwang Yumi and Lee Sookyoung, worked at the same plant in the provice of Gyeonggi and died of the same type of cancer.

It was the death of the 22-year-old Hwang in 2007 that led unions and human rights groups to investigate the cancer deaths among Samsung workers under a coalition called Supporters of Health and Rights of People in the Semiconductor Industry.

The controversy surrounding Samsung has gained international attention, and advocacy groups worldwide have used it together with similar cases, such as IBM workers who sued after developing cancer, to call for safer working conditions and corporate accountability.