As deaths of night-shift workers at Coupang logistics centers continued, Kim Young-hoon, Minister of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL), visited a Coupang logistics center on the 28th to conduct a safety inspection.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) said Minister Kim Young-hoon made an unannounced visit to a Coupang logistics center in Goyang, Gyeonggi, at 10:30 p.m. on the 28th to check night-shift worksites and whether safety rules were being followed. The ministry moved to conduct its own inspection after a series of fatal accidents involving workers at Coupang logistics centers.
This year, a total of seven workers have died while doing Coupang-related work, including day laborers and contract delivery drivers. Recently, criticism has mounted that overnight work caused by Coupang's dawn delivery excessively infringes on workers' health rights.
The Minister inspected the Coupang logistics center and personally checked the worksite and rest facilities. The Minister also examined whether measures to protect the health rights of night-shift workers were being implemented, including work and break times, whether health checkups were conducted, and whether follow-up management based on the results was carried out.
The Minister said, "It is a shared view in the medical community that people should work when the sun is up and rest when the sun goes down," adding, "Even if not immediately, repeating overnight work delivers a serious blow to workers in the form of cerebrocardiovascular diseases and the like."
The Minister added, "We will examine the realities at Coupang logistics and delivery centers where constant night work is performed," and said, "We will do our best to implement measures to protect the health rights of night-shift workers."