The Korea Electrical Safety Corp. (KESC) held a ceremony to present the 18th Electrical Safety Grand Awards at the Inter-Continental Hotel Ballroom in Samsung-dong, Seoul on Nov. 6. It was jointly hosted with the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, and some 500 government officials, leaders of the related organizations, private companies and industries attended.
Among the attendants were Chairman Akio Nakamura of the International Electrical Safety Alliance, President Lee Sang-kwon of the KESC, and the winners of the awards.
Chung Chan-hoon, group head of the Environment Safety Center of the Samsung Electronics Co., won the highest medal among the honorees. He took home the Industrial Merit Silver Tower Medal in recognition of his contribution to the prevention of electrical mishaps and helping to raise the productivity of his company by introducing new technologies to safely manage the electrical installations of Samsung Electronics.
President Park Ju-shik of Sunjoo Construction Co. and President Lee Hae-yong of Ilshin Electricity won the Industrial Citations in recognition of their contributions to electrical safety by safely managing the electrical installations in their companies respectively.
President Lee Sang-kwon said in his congratulatory speech that a safe society is the top priority when it comes to national happiness, which "all of us should pursue. “We should all join to make Korea an advanced nation without electrical accidents in the world like an economic miracle in the past years that our people achieved,” he said.
Korea Electrical safety Corp. (KESCO) CEO Lee Sang-kwon was honored with the 2015 Korea Creative Economy Grand Prix in Safety Management for his contributions to cutting down on fires caused by electricity.
KESCO President Lee has been credited with principle management based on innovation, trust and communication, thus reducing fires caused by electricity since he took helm of KESCO.
The 2015 Korea Creative Economy Grand Prix, marking the third year since its establishment, is designed to choose and encourage companies and CEOs who have spearheaded economic innovation through the reinvigorating of the creative economy. The award is hosted by the Korea Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) and sponsored by the Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning, and the Korean Commission for Corporate Partnership (KCCP).
Lee was praised for touring worksites frequently and encouraging KESCO staff to fulfill their duties after setting a goal to reduce the ratio of fires caused by electricity as one of his top policy tasks. His efforts have paid off. The ratio of fires caused by electrical power has dropped from 21.7 percent (8,889 cases) in 2013 to 19.7 percent (some 6,000 cases).
KESCO President Lee said, “We’ll continue to ensure corporate innovation by further committing its main duties down the road and devote ourselves to make people feel safe and realize a happy society.”
Lee, who took office in February 2014, said his attention on safety was extraordinary. In particular, he served as a prosecutor in charge of investigating the collapse of the Sampoong Department Store in Seoul that claimed 502 lives in 1995.
Lee recalled that the department store gave in because the structure, originally designed as a four-story leisure facility, was expanded to five stories illegally, and safety could only be guaranteed whenever rules are observed.
Even though 19 years had passed between the Sampoong Department Store collapse and last year’s Sewol ferry disaster, Lee said Koreans’ “go fast” mentality and insensitivity to safety dies hard.
This is the reason why KESCO President Lee set his management tenet as “principle management” when he took office.
While delivering his message at a ceremony to launch the new year at the KESCO headquarters in Wanju on Jan. 2, KESCO President Lee expounded the top three management tenets of the year: strengthening a foundation for rising to a world-class corporation; pushing for the implementation of the Government 3.0 Strategy and the normalizing of public entities; and achievements in efforts to reduce electricity-related fires.
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