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By Kang Seung-woo
Subcontractor-based operations are under fire after a 24-year-old mechanic was killed recently while checking a conveyor belt at a power plant in Taean, South Chungcheong Province.
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| Kim Yong-gyun |
Kim Yong-gyun, a maintenance worker of the Korea Engineering and Power Service (KEPS), a subcontractor to the state-run Korea Western Power (KOWEPO), was found dead at 3:20 a.m., Tuesday, after being trapped by a running conveyor belt. He lost contact with the office around 10 p.m., Monday, so it is suspected his body had been there since then without being found for more than five hours.
A taskforce to investigate the accident, comprised of civic groups and the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions, held a press conference Wednesday and blamed KWP's harsh working conditions for Kim's death.
"The outsourcing of dangerous projects, not the conveyor belt, led to Kim's death," the taskforce said. "KOWEPO subcontracts dangerous work to a small company as part of cost reductions and disregards the safety of the subcontracted workers."
It added: "KOWEPO is trying to water down his death as an individual's mistake, but Kim would not have been there by himself and killed if there had been no order from the company to remove coal from below the conveyor belt."
According to police, Kim was inspecting the conveyor belt alone although guidelines state at least two workers must do on-site work together for safety reasons.
"Because of the potential risks, we have urged the company to allow us to work in pairs, but to no avail," a KEPS union member said in a radio interview, Thursday.
"The accident was waiting to happen."
He also denounced KOWEPO's follow-up measures to Kim's death.
"Despite finding Kim's corpse, the money-blinded company instructed workers to keep the conveyor belt operating rather than reporting it to the Ministry of Employment and Labor or calling the 119 emergency center," he said.
Such an incident involving a subcontracted laborer is not new to the power plant.
Over the past eight years, 12 subcontracted workers have been killed there, while 97 percent of accidents during the past five years involved outside workers.
In the wake of the death, the labor ministry launched a special investigation into KOWEPO, dispatching 22 officials to look into the firm's safety protocols.
"As a series of fatal accidents occurred at the same facility, there are growing concerns over workplace safety there. In that respect, we have launched an investigation," a labor ministry official said.
Politicians lashed out at subcontractor-based operations, vowing to bring these to a halt.
"The job Kim was doing had been initially assumed by regular workers of KOWEPO. The subcontractor-operations system is pushing subcontracted workers to the brink of death," said Rep. Hong Ihk-pyo, a spokesman for the ruling Democratic Party of Korea.
"We will focus on creating safer working conditions to stop the recurrence of such a miserable death among subcontracted workers."
Meanwhile, candlelit vigils were held at Gwanghawmun in Seoul and in Taean, Thursday, to commemorate Kim and urge punitive action against those responsible for his death.
In 2016, public anger over the subcontractor system was heightened after a 19-year-old subcontracted mechanic, who was repairing a platform safety door alone at Guui Station in Seoul ― in violation of guidelines requiring two people to work together ― was killed by an oncoming train.
