Hyundai factory was a deadly job site before it was raided by ICE

Before it became the target of one of the biggest immigration raids in U.S. history, Hyundai Motor’s sprawling auto plant in central Georgia had another reputation among workers: It was a dangerous and deadly construction site.

- Sharon Terlep, Amira Mckee & Arian Campo-Flores

Three workers have died since Hyundai started construction on the $7.6 billion complex in 2022—an unusually high toll, even for a project of its scale, according to a Wall Street Journal review of federal records. More than a dozen other workers have suffered severe injuries, including from falling without harnesses and getting crushed by forklifts.

Two dozen current and former workers, many of them safety coordinators who helped oversee construction, described in interviews a worksite with many inexperienced immigrant laborers, often lax safety standards and frequent accidents. These workers said Hyundai failed to ensure people were properly trained, and safety regulators did little to prevent worksite violations.

Employees said Hyundai imposed a blistering pace of construction, and that a web of more than 100 contractors on the site complicated efforts to enforce safety standards. In some cases, they said, there was a lack of safety personnel to ensure that workers were performing their duties safely. Construction is ongoing in parts of the complex.

The federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration and state officials “turned their back and let them do what they were doing,” said Greg Dement, who worked on the site last year as a safety manager and said OSHA didn’t respond to his complaints. After more than 30 years in construction, he said, his experience at Hyundai led him to leave the industry for good.

Hyundai, in a statement, said it is committed to following immigration laws and that it doesn’t compromise safety for the sake of speed. The company said it took steps to address safety issues in response to incidents during construction. The company noted that the site’s enormous size makes it one of the largest construction projects in the U.S.