Civic Protest
Civic groups in Korea held a press conference condemning Samsung Electronics and urged a complete ban on methanol use following a fatal accident from methanol poisoning at a second-tier partner of Samsung Electronics in Vietnam.
On March 29, 16 civic groups, including Banolim which protects the health and human rights of semiconductor workers, held a press conference condemning the methanol poisoning accident in front of the Samsung Electronics’ Seocho building in the Gangnam district of Seoul.
Previously 37 workers at HS Tech, a second-tier partner of Samsung Electronics Vietnam, were diagnosed with methanol poisoning and among them, a 42-year-old woman died.
Methanol, used for cleaning, degreasing, and cooling in the semiconductor manufacturing process, is a toxic substance that causes damage to the central nervous system and optic nerves when the human body is exposed to it for a long time. The accident occurred when a local Vietnamese company supplied impure ethanol containing methanol to HS Tech.
Regarding this, Samsung Electronics said that it does not use methanol in manned processes at its places of business around the world and that its partners are using methanol safely only in extremely limited situations such as unmanned automated processes.