Two words keep sick Samsung workers from data: trade secrets
South Korean authorities have repeatedly withheld from workers and their bereaved families crucial information about chemicals they were exposed to
As a high school senior, Hwang Yu-mi went to work bathing silicon wafers in chemicals at a Samsung factory that makes computer chips for laptops and other devices. She died of leukaemia four years later.
After Yu-mi’s death in 2007, her father, Hwang Sang-gi, learned a 30-year-old worker at the same semiconductor line also had died of leukaemia. The taxi driver launched a movement demanding the government investigate health risks at Samsung Electronics Co factories.
When Hwang sued after his first claim for government compensation was denied, he struggled to get details about the factory environment because Samsung did not release that information to worker-safety officials.
An Associated Press investigation has found South Korean authorities have repeatedly withheld from workers and their bereaved families crucial information about chemicals they were exposed to at Samsung’s computer chip and liquid crystal display factories. Sick workers need access to such data through the government or the courts to apply for workers’ compensation from the state. Without it, government officials commonly reject their cases.
In at least six cases involving 10 workers, the justification for withholding the information was trade secrets.
