[World Report] In Japan, there are'Silently OOO people'

A little over a month has passed since I came to Japan as a training and traveling correspondent.

Excluding the 14-day self-isolation period, the full-fledged ‘living in Japan’ is now about two weeks old.

In the past, I went to Japan twice, on vacation, for short trips.

At that time, it was the'eye of tourism' and now it is the'eye of observation'.

Sometimes on foot, sometimes by bus, walking around the city of Tokyo keeps my eyes on a strange scene.

Minato-ku, Tokyo, where I live, the Metropolitan Expressway passes overhead.

There are renovations underway across the bridge.

However, at each construction site, there are one or two people who wear a fluorescent band without fail.

I wasn't curious about the identity of these people from the beginning.

It was because I knew only that the workers who were directly involved in the construction were out in India for a while.

However, you can easily spot these people at other construction sites on bridges, as well as at new buildings.

Their eyes come and go from time to time to the field and passersby.

If pedestrians get closer to the scene, they warn you quickly.

Only then came the feeling that they would be'safety personnel'.

I asked with short Japanese, hand gestures, and gestures.

I was right.

A safety officer working near Mita on the Metropolitan Expressway section said, "We are a safety manager who is on standby at all times. This is to prevent any accidents."

I said enough.

It is a sight that we have not seen in our country.

I passed a construction site with several large cranes and a construction site with a tall building in the middle of the city, but I only remember my body.

At that time, I thought it was natural.

How much is the labor cost per worker, and how wasteful it is to'stand still' instead of'work'...

They have been assimilated into their position for some time on a subject that is not a builder.

The Japanese construction site where safety personnel are'standing still' emphasizes the necessity by comparing the number of deaths in safety accidents.

*According to an article covering'Analyzes and Implications of Safety Management System for Japanese Construction Sites', recently published by the Korea Institute for Construction Policy, Japan has a construction project that is three times larger than Korea.

The number of regular workers is 1.6 million in Korea and 4.8 million in Japan.

However, as of 2017, the number of deaths in the construction industry in Korea was 579, while in Japan it was 323.

High school 2 During winter vacation, I went to the early morning job market.

They were always nominated in the 3rd place, beating the most prominent uncles because their apparent rating seemed to be in their mid-20s.

About ten days have passed since I went to the site in Daerim-dong, Seoul.

At the time, people were working on moving rebar materials right next to the empty space for elevators.

'If this collapses, it looks like a big deal...

'I was anxious while building materials.

Then, the moment I put the rebar I had brought, the tower collapsed.

Dozens of them poured down the floor, and the front of my eyes became dark, and my legs fluttered, and they sank.

'There was a person on the first floor...' I couldn't see below.

People flocked in.

I heard all kinds of insults from the class leader.

Among them, I clearly remember the words "because of you..."

Fortunately, no one was covered with rebar.

I remember that two people were injured: the one who was slightly struck by the rolled rebar and the person whose leg was scratched.

At that time, the daily wage was 65,000 won.

I have received 58,000 won excluding the referral fee.

On that day, the head of the task force paid 30,000 won for the injured people to pay for medicine.

It was a time when I took care of myself.

It was a time when no one was checking to see if there was anything dangerous on the site.

It was a stupid time when I thought,'I'm really glad I went to 30,000 won.'

I hear news that the Severe Accident Corporate Penalty Act is still idling.

The main point is that the employer is strictly responsible for the workplace in which a major disaster has occurred, but is exempted if a system to prevent safety accidents is in place.

The words "I don't want to die while working" and the words "I'm going to ruin a company" continue to cut off each other and be hostile.

The reason why I recalled the'Last Labor Site' a long time ago was thanks to the security personnel I encountered in Japan.

Of course, the level of safety at the site is improving a lot in Korea than at that time.

However, it is true that I am envious of Japan's'standing' people, who take the most basic safety accident prevention system for granted.

The differences between deaths in the industrial field, because this is not just a difference in numbers, but a matter of nationality.

* Refer to tomorrow's newspaper on March 30, <Having half of the deaths from industrial accidents, learning from the Japanese construction industry>