Kim Jung Won, a contractor from South Korea, tragically died around 5pm on the evening of Sunday July 27 at the LG Energy Solution Michigan (LGESMI) in Holland, Michigan. Prior to his death, Won had been setting up a machine at the plant when it activated, first trapping and then crushing him. Won’s death was confirmed at the site. No lifesaving efforts were made due to the severity of his injuries.
Describing what must have been a horrific scene, the Holland police said, “Due to the injuries, the victim was clearly deceased.”
The Michigan Occupational Safety and Health Administration (MIOSHA) gave this terse summary; the “34-year-old senior researcher was installing and setting up a machine at a customer location when the machine activated, and the victim was caught between the frame and the lifting mechanism.” MIOSHA is currently investigating, according to police, since machinery being serviced is legally required to be disabled following lockout/tagout procedures.
LG Energy Solution operates a major lithium ion battery manufacturing facility in Holland and is partnering with US automakers on the EV transition. According to the company website, President Obama attended the plant opening ceremony in 2010. In 2024 then-US energy secretary and former Michigan Governor Jennifer Granholm toured the plant and met with company directors.
Won’s death sheds light on a troubling pattern of safety neglect at LG Energy Solutions Michigan. Several current and former LG employees posted their opposition to hazardous working conditions that prioritize task completion over employee safety. A worker denounced the cruel and callous manner in which the company continued production immediately after the accident. “They stopped in that area, washed the brain matter off the wall and went right back to work. What a joke.”
“That place is a horrible place to be,” one worker wrote. “People being ridiculed so much by company people to get the job done. There are supposed to be safety features that prevent the machines from running if doors are opened and people are in there. They either don’t work or get disabled and not returned to working order. People lose fingers and a guy even lost a hand. This place don’t care.”
A worker pointed to the subordination of safety for production. “They frequently use no mandatory protective equipment and never lockout/tagout equipment. LGESMI does not care about safety. They only care about running quantity.”
LG Energy Solution’s Holland facility, operational since 2012, has seen repeated safety infractions, including multiple OSHA violations and a separate fatal incident in 2023, where a 41-year-old man died after being hit by a pipe during a pressure test. The same year, they received seven citations, including two willful violations, for the control of hazardous energy (lockout/tagout), resulting in a $70,000 fine for each violation. A willful violation occurs when an employer deliberately ignores safety regulations, or intentionally ignores established safety regulations, OSHA’s most severe violation.
“Safety is no concern at LGESMI,” posted Jaimie Adams, who worked in the electrode department at the Holland LG facility for almost 4 years. In July Adams testified before the Holland city council, in opposition to tax breaks for the company, because of its harassment of workers and unsafe conditions.
In June of 2024 Adams suffered an open head wound from machinery missing a handle—a part that she later fixed herself. Despite reporting her injury to supervisors and crew leaders, Adams was denied permission to seek medical attention. During this time LG also refused to comply with ADA (American with Disabilities Act) accommodations: “I was forced to do things doctors said not to.”
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a work-related fatality every 99 minutes, with 5,283 workers killed that year from traumatic injuries. No data has been published for 2024 or 2025. Despite the magnitude of this social catastrophe, the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cut back even its already limited oversight. In 2024 OSHA had only one inspector per 85,000 workers, with a budget of a meager $3.92 per worker. It would take 185 years for OSHA to inspect every workplace, because of their severe lack of resources. On top of that, employers face few consequences for allowing fatal accidents, with a median penalty of only $16,131 for a worker’s death and only 137 criminal prosecutions since 1970.
On July 27 the International Workers Alliance of Rank-and-File Committees (IWA-RFC) held a rank-and-file hearing on the death of Stellantis Dundee autoworker Ronald Adams, Sr. At the hearing a former autoworker and leading member of the Socialist Equality Party, Lawrence Porter, characterized the ongoing deaths and injuries as “casualties in a class war.” Porter explained that the capitalist system treats the 140,000 annual deaths of US workers from traumatic injuries and occupational diseases as merely a “cost of doing business.”
The IWA-RFC unanimously adopted a resolution confronting the death of Stellantis worker Ronald Adams Sr. The resolution demands an end to the systematic negligence and concealment of “industrial slaughter” that claims workers’ lives every day in warehouses, factories, processing plants and construction sites. Those responsible for these preventable deaths must be held responsible. The resolution denounces the bipartisan attack on social programs and workplace safety directed by the Trump administration, assisted by the Democrats. We urge all workers to join the IWA-RFC and to end capitalist exploitation that cruelly sacrifices workers’ lives for profit.