Follow-up measures are being taken by the National Assembly in connection with the recent industrial accident judgment of a former airline crew member who was diagnosed with leukemia at the age of 31 and died while fighting.



Mr. A, who worked as an international flight attendant, was diagnosed with acute leukemia in 2015, in his seventh year.



Since then, in 2018, he applied for industrial accident to the Labor Welfare Corporation, claiming that he contracted leukemia due to exposure to space radiation due to flying on the Arctic route.



Mr. A died in May of last year without seeing the results, and the Korea Labor Welfare Corporation only recognized the industrial accident on the 17th, about three years after application.



According to Mr. A's certificate of occupational disease, exposure to ionizing radiation from flying on the Arctic route was recognized as a harmful factor and one of the reasons for the outbreak of leukemia.



In particular, it was pointed out that the cumulative radiation dose of Mr. A cannot be seen at a low level compared to radiation medical workers, and that a considerable causal relationship is recognized between the disease and work, considering the fact that he developed leukemia at 31, a relatively young age.



They also pointed out the problem that the conventional radiation measurement method using the prediction program CARI-6M is underestimated from 1.4 times up to 2.1 times the actual exposure.



This judgment is the first case in Korea where an industrial accident was recognized by airline crew members due to radiation exposure during flight.



In addition to Mr. A, the number of former and current aviation pilots and flight attendants who applied for industrial accidents for the same reason is likely to affect the related screening.



The National Assembly is pushing ahead with a plan to investigate whether pilots and crew members are exposed to radiation.



Contents such as the unification of the radiation management body of aviation crew members to the Nuclear Safety Committee and the introduction of a Korean radiation prediction model are also being prepared.



In addition, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has decided to implement a plan from today to significantly lower the annual radiation dose standard for crew members from the current 50mSv to 6mSv, and to increase the storage period of related records from the previous 5 to 30 years.



Detailed news can be viewed at SBS 8 News.



(Photo = Yonhap News TV capture, Yonhap News)