Samsung Electronics Co. Ltd. said that it will create a fund to compensate workers at its chip and display factories who developed cancer, and their families. The fund will also be used for efforts to prevent such health problems in the future. The fund has been set at $85.8 million.
The fund will make payments to workers or the families of workers who became sick while working at its plants, Samsung said in a statement. The fund will also apply to contractors and will pay for research into methods of improving worker safety at the technology company's factories. Samsung will also hire an outside company to audit its health and safety procedures to help prevent workers from being exposed to dangerous conditions.
Around 200 workers who had been employed at Samsung plants fell ill, according to a South Korean activist group called Sharps, which represents many of the cancer-stricken workers. About 70 of these workers have died, according to the organization.
The proposal for the fund came after negotiations between Samsung, workers and their families as well as outside experts over the company's responsibility for the workers. Workers at Samsung's microchip and display plants have developed cancers including lymphoma and leukemia, which they attribute to prolonged exposure to radiation or dangerous chemicals used in the factories. Samsun is one of the largest technology companies in the world.
Samsung issued a public apology in May 2014 to affected workers and their families. The company admitted that it did not do enough or respond quickly enough to prevent illness and deaths at its Korean plants. The chief executive officer of Samsung, Kwon Oh-hyun went on record saying, ""We should have settled the issue earlier. We are deeply heartbroken that we failed to do so and express our deep apology."
