Founding Principle

In 2014, the issue of ‘occupational disease of semiconductor workers’ of SK Hynix aroused controversy. SK Hynix established the '산업보건검증위원회(Occupational Health Verification Committee)' and delegated the authority to investigate and compensate. The committee has not confirmed the causal relationship between the workplace environment and the outbreak of the disease but suggested the need of the "포괄적 지원보상체계(Comprehensive support and compensation system)". Compensation scheme not only covers the workers who are currently working for SK Hynix but also the retirees, workers of subcontracted firms, and their children. The compensation plan also includes all the diseases related to the semiconductor occupational disease in order to eliminate the possibility of missing anyone with any casualties and to maximize the range of people who can be compensated.

SK Hynix established the '산업보건지원보상위원회(Compensation Committee for Occupational Health Support)' as part of implementing the committee’ proposal. Subsequently, the ‘산업보건선진화지속위원회(Sustainability Committee on Advancement of Industrial Health)’ was established. This is the company’s effort to deal with semiconductor occupational disease more efficiently and to establish a leading industrial health management system.

Alongside with above-mentioned efforts of the company per se, SK Hynix also agreed to an idea to establish a non-profit foundation in order to cultivate experts in the fields of environment, safety, and health (SHE: Safety, Health, and Environment). Jaeyeon Jang, a professor of Preventive Medicine & Public Health at Ajou University, was appointed as the chairman of the board. The board of directors were formed with distinguished individuals pursuing public interest. In July 2018, the Korea SHE Foundation was established.