hankyoreh

By Park Hyun-jung and Kim So-youn, staff writers
Belatedly, it has been revealed that Samsung Electronics misrepresented working condition at its semiconductor factories, saying, “The working environment at Samsung Semiconductor has been internationally verified,” based on research results presented by US industrial safety consulting firm Environ at an international symposium.
Environ has been conducting an investigation, commissioned by Samsung Electronics, into the relationship between levels of exposure of workers at its semiconductor factories to carcinogenic substances and instances of leukemia. At a symposium at the 30th Congress of the International Commission on Occupational Health (ICOH) in Cancun, Mexico, on March 21, it presented two studies.
The day after the presentation, Samsung Electronics released a press release reporting the outcomes of Environ’s studies, saying, “The link between the working environment on the semiconductor production line and illness is weak.” In particular, the press release included a sentence saying, “The contents of a reinvestigation by Environ, which say there is nothing wrong with the working conditions at Samsung Electronics’ semiconductor production ine, have been verified through the most authoritative international symposium.” Some Korean media then published related articles titled, “Safety at Samsung Semiconductor factory internationally acknowledged.” On March 21, Samsung posted photographs of the symposium on its company Flickr page with a caption saying, “ICOH Verifies ‘Samsung’s safe working Environment’.” Around one week later, it replaced the word “verifies” with “publishes.”
But Banollim, a semiconductor workers advocacy group, held a press conference on Wednesday at the offices of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union in Jung-gu, Seoul, and stated that the contents of Samsung Electronics’ press release were false. As grounds for this, Banollim public released the contents of a letter sent by the ICOH to Professor Paek Do-myung of the Graduate School of Public Health at Seoul National University on April 16. When Paek, who had attended the symposium, had misgivings about Samsung’s announcement and sent questions to the ICOH, the ICOH answered, “Our commission’s academic events are merely a forum at which industrial experts share knowledge and experience. We definitely do not vouch for the studies presented there.”
Paek, who also attended Banollim’s press conference, found problems with the research results announced by Environ at the symposium. Because leukemia becomes detactable after an incubation period, acquiring knowledge of previous work environments is very important, but Environ mentioned only recent levels of exposure to hazardous substances at the workplace. “Environ’s research results seem like data for submitting to a court of law representing Samsung’s position,” said Paek. “At the symposium, too, Environ went over its allotted time with a unilateral presentation, leaving no time for questions.”
A Samsung Electronics official responded by explaining, “The press release mainly conveyed the fact that Environ had made a presentation and merely contained our opinions and assertions. In the case of the English language photo caption, we discovered internally an erroneous translation and amended it voluntarily.”
　
Please direct questions or comments to [english@hani.co.kr]