※ This report file is from reporter Jee Hee-won of the SBS Industrial Science Team, who has been covering related matters for one month since the enforcement of the Serious Disaster Punishment Act.
Reporter Hee-won Je faithfully captures the voices of the scene that she could hear during her coverage, and visits readers through all three coverage files.
[Editor's Note]
Younghee Kim, 58, lives in Ulsan.
For the past 10 years, she has worked as a cleaning worker at Hyundai Heavy Industries Ulsan Shipyard and Mipo Shipyard.
Vessel cleaning is a hazardous task that involves climbing up and down vertical ladders on board the ship to remove all kinds of welding by-products and garbage.
At this time a year ago, an accident happened to Young-hee.
"Isn't it the day before the rain... There was an instruction to clean it up in advance. The bottom of the (ship) is curved. To clean it, I tried to sweep it with one foot high and the other touching the floor... . I slipped sideways, and my shoulder was hurt when it touched the iron plate of the ship."
- Mr. Kim Young-hee / Hyundai Mipo Dockyard cleaning worker
Immediately, the pain came as if my left shoulder was broken.
However, the hospital diagnosis the company gave them was absurd.
"Each subcontractor has a designated hospital. I took a car to Ulsan University Hospital, and (the doctor) said,
'It's okay to take an X-ray.'
'It hurts because it's a bruise.'
Yes, the MRI scans did not read properly. When I got home, I couldn’t lie down and couldn’t do it, so I talked to the union office and went to another hospital, but
there were fractures of bones, ligaments and muscles
.
Young-hee, who underwent emergency surgery for a fracture of the left shoulder blade.
The process of being recognized as an industrial accident after surgery was difficult.
After saying that Yeong-hee had a 'habitual dislocation', approval for an industrial accident caused by an injury was rejected once.
It had been three months since the accident.
“Cannot call industrial disasters industrial accidents”
Although Ms. Young-hee was recognized as an industrial accident after fighting, many subcontractors often opt for 'fair handling', in which the employer bears the cost of treatment instead of an official application for industrial accident.
Words are a choice, in fact pressure is common.
It was the subcontractors who were forced to do more risky work and were forced to do more fancy work.
"If you look straight ahead in front of the heavy industry, there are designated hospitals.
'It's just a bruise.'
Let's make a diagnosis like this and get treatment for a little more a week or two. It drags it out like this. Then, even if the ligament is torn, it
is not an accidental injury, but a musculoskeletal disease later
. The
reason for the application was
'I can't tell where the injury came from.'
and write it."
- Jeong Dong-seok/CEO of Hyundai Heavy Industries Branch
It is also the responsibility of the injured worker to prove an industrial accident, so many people do not even try to file an industrial accident claim.
There are still many cases of working alone because the principle of two-person work is not properly followed.
“
The most difficult part is that when subcontractor workers
try to apply for an industrial accident, the company says , ‘Take care of the accident,
and I will do everything.’
It means that people who have to work are constantly called in to work. So later, (injury) goes out of control. It gets so bad that it even requires surgery. Then the managers use it as an excuse to leave the worker.... In
fact, chase That
's what you pay for
."
- Jeong Dong-seok/CEO of Hyundai Heavy Industries Branch
During the interview, a couple of workers who had been neglected to deal with industrial accidents came to the office of the subcontractor labor union of Hyundai Heavy Industries and received counseling.
A labor attorney explained the reason why it is more difficult for subcontractors to apply for industrial accidents.
“When (subcontractor workers) apply for industrial accident claims, they are all reported to the primary agency, and the
higher the industrial accident application rate, the higher the company will be rejected from renewing contracts
.
- Donghee Kwon Certified Labor Attorney
The irony of "low occupational accident rate - high occupational accident death rate"
In fact, Korea has a low occupational accident rate even compared to European countries, but has a high occupational fatality rate (see table). Unless it is a fatal accident that is difficult to hide, it means that large and small occupational accidents that result in injury or illness are still being covered up.
Countries with a high level of compensation for workers' injuries generally have a high 'low death rate from industrial accidents and a high rate of occupational accidents'.
There is an urgent need for a system to discover more industrial accidents and help injured workers receive timely treatment.
Otherwise, it is the voice of the field that it is inevitable that subcontractors will not call an ambulance in a timely manner even after an emergency, or force them to leave the company after dealing with industrial and commercial accidents.
100,000 industrial accidents... crumbling daily life
Officially, around 100,000 industrial accidents occur every year in Korea.
As of 2020, the number of industrial accidents announced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor was 108,379.
Even if it is not a major accident like a major disaster, an injury at work can take a toll on the lives of each of these individuals.
It is said that 100,000 people a year change the course of their lives due to an accident at work, large or small.
Young-hee, who suffered a shoulder injury at the shipyard earlier, has not been able to return to the shipyard for a year.
Livelihood is also in a difficult situation.
In the end, Yeong-hee said that she wanted to convey these words.
“
There is a big difference in Korea depending on whether it is directly managed or subcontracted.
It is our subcontractors who actually work. Direct
management doesn’t do that much. Everything...
It's not just me. After an injury, it's very difficult to have after-effects or make a living after that. It's very difficult to make a living."
▶ [Report file] One month of serious disaster law...
"Please do nothing today."