2 workers who were killed in separate fatal accidents at the workplace in Georgia

The Hyundai Motor Co. logo is exhibited in the showroom of the car manufacturer in Seoul, South Korea. [AP Photo/Lee Jin-man]

WSWS calls on the employees to support the investigation of the death of Ronald Adams, including information on other deaths at the workplace. Fill out the form at the end of this article to send us your comments.

This week, two workers were killed in separate accidents at the workplace at two of the top-class production locations in Georgia: the Hyundai Motor Group MetaPlant America Battery facility near Savannah and in the Solar Panel of the Hanwha Qcells in Cartersville.

The tragic deaths of the workers in Georgia are part of a pattern of deaths in the workplace all over the country and all over the world, where industrial deaths have become commonplace.

The death of these two takes place within six weeks after the death of Ronald Adams, Sr. in the Stellantis Dundee Motor Complex in Michigan. Adams, a 61-year-old worker, was killed in an accident on April 7 when an overhead guarantor adhered to a sponsor and caused fatal injuries on his upper upper body.

On Tuesday, May 20, a construction worker was killed in the HL GA battery system, part of the MetaPlant America complex of the Hyundai Motor Group in Ellabell, Georgia. According to reports from the sheriff office of the Bryan County, the worker was fatally injured when an unsecured load fell from a forklift during the loading process.

The incident occurred shortly before 11:00 a.m. at the time of this script, the identity of the employee, which was used by a subcontractor who was involved in the construction of the battery system, was not released. The non-operational HL GA battery system is an essential part of the $ 12.6 billion investment from Hyundai in Georgia and is intended to provide batteries for the new assembly plant of the company's electric vehicle.

This is not the first death on the construction site of Hyundai metaplant. In March of this year, Sunbok You, a 67-year-old worker, was beaten and pulled by a forklift, which led to fatal injuries. In April 2023, Victor Gamboa, a 43-year-old contractor died after he fell 60 feet when his security line failed.

According to an OSHA examination in which the contractors cited, the employees received no reasonable safety equipment. These repeated deaths in the workplace make it clear that the safety of employees is subordinate to the drive by the Hyundai Motor Group in order to accelerate the project and reduce the costs before opening the battery system.

On Monday, May 19th, a death occurred in the Solar Panel Hanwha Qcells in Cartersville, Georgia. Firefighters responded to a call at 7.15 p.m. and found Marion Jose Rugama, a 33-year-old inhabitant of Norcross, dead on a tank. It has not yet been determined whether Rugama was a direct employee of Hanwha Qcells or an contractor, but the use of contractual work is widespread in the facility.

According to the local authorities, the oxygen level was only 15 percent at the top of the tank, far below the minimum minimum, which is required to maintain the lifespan. A nitrogen leak is suspected as the cause, although an autopsy and toxicology screening is pending.

Rugama's death underlines the fatal conditions that workers like dangerous chemicals in narrow rooms in modern production.

The Hyundai Motor Group Metaplant America (HMGMA) in Ellabell, Georgia, is the largest individual economic development project in the history of Georgia. Supported by Hyundai and its partners, including LG Energy Solution and SK, the extensive complex will use 8,500 employees by 2031. The system is built at burning speed with the aim of making Georgia a hub for electric vehicle and battery production.

The Hanwha Qcells work in Cartersville is part of an investment of 2.5 billion US dollars by the South Korean Clean Energy Giant, which also runs a main facility in Dalton, Georgia. Together, the two plants form the largest solar manufacturing company in the western hemisphere, whereby the plans to expand the Cartersville system will be expanded even further in 2025.

Neither the workforce in Hyundai metaplant nor the Hanwha Qcells Cartersville will be organized.

The use of contractual work, which places the use of contract work on a large scale on a large scale, enables companies to reduce the costs, to withdraw responsibility and to fragment the workforce. Contract employees are often less paid, receive fewer services and have less job security than direct employees. It is also less likely that you will receive adequate security training.

The automotive and manufacturing sector are among the most dangerous for workers in the USA. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, 5,486 workers died in the nationwide job in 2022, whereby transport, construction and production consistently ranked to the deadliest industries.

Another example of the unbearable conditions in the auto industry in Georgia was exposed in February 2024 when Osha reported an investigation into the establishment of Columbus, Georgia, from Aludyne Columbus LLC, a prominent global manufacturer of car parts with 30 production facilities worldwide.

The results of the OSHA – followed by proposed punishments from $ 182,344 – 22 serious violations. The results included the company to provide the protective equipment and enforce security protocols in which the employees worked as dangerously close to energetic power lines without insulated tools and were exposed to up to 15 -higher than the permissible limit. The workers also lacked the appropriate breathing apparatus, and the company did not conduct any adjustment tests for those who were exposed to silicosis.

Jeffery Stawowy, office director of the Osha Atlanta-West Area Office, said in an explanation: “Aludyne Columbus LLC has almost cost the failure to prioritize the security and health of employees, an employee and enable employees to be overexposed above the permissible exposure limit.”

So recently reported on the World Socialist websiteThe workers of Starplus Energy, a joint venture between Stellantis and Samsung SDI in Kokomo, Indiana, took social media to uncover dangerous working conditions in the facility. The workers said that there was no medical emergency reaction, no safety data sheets and no workers -Comp -Härzt in the facility and that every injured worker who is injured has to climb on four steps to look for help.

The International Workers Alliance of Rank-And-File Committees (IWA-RFC) has initiated an independent examination under the direction of rank-and-file workers to the death of Ronald Adams, the Dundee motor worker.

The specific details of his death were secreted secretly when Sternantis, UAW Appatus and the Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (Miosha) have refused to publish information about the circumstances of the accident or the official investigation of the causes of death.

The campaign for an independent examination of Adam's death has the workers in the auto industry and other industries who have experienced the catastrophic conditions through acceleration, interpretation and tireless drives for profit first -hand.

The deaths in Georgia underline the urgent need for such an independent supervision and the workers to organize themselves together in order to demand safe working conditions, regardless of whether they are direct employees or subordinate workers.

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