The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said on the 12th it will inspect risk factors for serious accidents, focusing on everyday life–related sectors such as wholesale and retail, building management, and sanitation. The inspection period is for one week from that day through the 18th.
The inspections come in response to frequent serious accidents in everyday life–related sectors. Recently, fatal accidents occurred in succession, including a fall from a ladder 0.8 meters high while performing landscaping work on a building rooftop without wearing protective equipment such as a hard hat, and a case of being caught in machinery after failing to cut power during foreign object removal work on a compactor at metal scrap sales business sites.
The ministry said, "Accidents due to failure to implement simple safety measures are frequent," and added, "We will conduct unannounced, focused inspections to check compliance with safety rules for the five major serious accident risk factors—falls, entanglement, collisions, fire or explosions, and suffocation—such as providing personal protective equipment, worker safety passages, cutting power during maintenance work, and measures during loading and unloading operations."
Ryu Hyun-cheol, head of the Industrial Safety and Health Headquarters at the ministry, said, "Sectors such as wholesale and retail and consumer goods repair, comprehensive building management, and sanitation and similar services tend to see repeated accidents because relatively small business sites account for a large share, leading to insufficient awareness of safety investment and safety management," and added, "During this intensive inspection week, we will strengthen awareness of on-site safety to prevent the same accidents from recurring."