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A copy of a recently published report on worker safety and health conditions at Samsung’s electronics-producing affiliates sits in front of the memorial portrait of Hwang Yu-mi, who died of leukemia while working at a Samsung semiconductor plant, during a memorial ceremony held on March 3, 2024, in Sokcho, Gangwon Province. (courtesy of Lee Jong-ran)

“Today, we placed the report before Yu-mi’s funeral portrait. Since her death 17 years ago, we’ve been talking nonstop about people getting sick and dying at Samsung because of chemicals, and this study is meaningful in terms of generally confirming the background behind that. In particular, it shows why occupational diseases need to be acknowledged and prevented for workers in the electronics industry beyond semiconductors.”

In a telephone interview on Sunday, Lee Jong-ran, a labor attorney and member of the watchdog group SHARPS, short for Supporters for the Health and Rights of People in the Semiconductor Industry, explained the significance of a report on worker safety and health conditions at Samsung’s electronics-producing affiliates, which was recently published after an eight-month research process launched in July 2023.

She explained that the study was important in expanding the issue of hazardous chemical use and the resulting occupational diseases beyond the area of semiconductors — which has received major attention over the years — into more general areas of production at Samsung.

The publication coincides with the 17th anniversary of Hwang’s death on March 6, 2007, after she contracted leukemia while working at a Samsung Electronics semiconductor factory.

The report notes that the kinds of carcinogenic substances and toxins that can wreak havoc on the reproductive system cited in occupational diseases among Samsung semiconductor workers also make up a large proportion of the chemicals used for the production processes of other Samsung items such as batteries and cell phones.

Of the 77 hazardous chemicals used for the production of cell phones and other wireless communication items, 16% were found to be carcinogenic. In the case of Samsung SDI’s battery sector, 23% of the 43 chemicals used were carcinogens.

The percentages are even higher than the 12% rate of carcinogenic substances among the 146 chemicals used by Samsung Electronics for semiconductor chip manufacturing.

The proportions of reprotoxic substances used at battery and cell phone production workplaces were also found to be higher than for semiconductor workplaces. These substances have been cited in cases of occupational diseases affecting the workers who make Samsung semiconductors, including rare forms of cancer and second-generation diseases affecting fetuses.

After SHARPS and Samsung Electronics reached an agreement in 2018 on measures to resolve the occupational disease issue for semiconductor workplaces, changes were introduced to prevent risks associated with the semiconductor production process, including prohibitions on and replacement of certain hazardous chemicals.

But in contrast with semiconductors, the public has been less aware of the hazardous nature of chemicals used for the production of home appliances and wireless communication items such as cell phones.

“The main measures announced by Samsung in connection with hazardous chemicals have been focused on the semiconductor sector,” explained SHARPS member Lee Sang-su.

“Measures to replace toxic substances, such as the ban on stocking major hazardous materials, should be expanded to electronics workplaces as a whole, and there need to be improvements to ventilation and other areas at the Gwangju and Gumi workplaces, which produce home appliances and wireless communication devices,” he stressed.

In addition to SHARPS, various labor unions at Samsung also contributed to the report, including the National Samsung Electronics Union and the Samsung SDI, Samsung Electronics Service, and Samsung Electronics Sales chapters of the Korean Metal Workers’ Union. Their participation allowed for surveys and interviews with over 1,800 workers during the research process.

Lee Jong-ran said, “We had been saying that the most dangerous risk factor for cancer was [Samsung’s] ‘no unions’ management policy.”

“This is meaningful in that labor unions have finally been established for various Samsung affiliates and we are now able to discuss the safety situation together for the sake of workers’ right to health,” she stressed.

By Jang Hyeon-eun, staff reporter

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