이 기사는 2021년 06월 23일 07:55 thebell 에 표출된 기사입니다.

A safety specialist joined the board of Coupang Corp, coincidentally just a week before the large fire at its distribution center in Gyeonggi Province, as the fast-growing ecommerce company tries to build a system to manage safety and social issues.

Coupang founder Bom Kim stepped down from the board in late May, and the vacancy was filled after Yoo In-jong, the head of safety, was appointed to serve as a director in a shareholders’ meeting on June 11.

Yoo, who has a doctoral degree in disaster and safety management, joined Coupang in September last year from Samsung C&T where he was in charge of safety in the company’s resort and theme park division. He received an award from the government in 2018 for his contribution to preventing industrial accidents.

Coupang last year also hired Park Dae-sik, a former branch head at the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, to lead safety audits. Park is considered a safety-audit veteran with 30 years of experience in the relevant field.

The hirings highlight the New York-listed company’s ongoing steps to build an internal system to manage social issues. The ecommerce business involves packaging and logistics, which are highly labor-intensive unless the processes become fully automated. This means companies in the sector are particularly vulnerable to problems related to workplace safety.

Global ecommerce giant Amazon, for instance, has also been suffering legal battles and public criticism with respect to its dealings with social issues. Coupang, often dubbed as the Amazon of South Korea, is ramping up steps to avoid the pitfalls that beset its predecessors.

Amazon currently does not have a safety specialist in its board of directors. The composition of Coupang’s board reflects its efforts to address social issues as it continues to grow, industry watchers said. Apart from safety veteran Yoo, a former employee at the Korea Fair Trade Commission, the country's competition watchdog, is also serving as an outside director of Coupang. (Reporting by Eun-jin Choi)