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| Dressed as deceased power plant irregular mechanic Kim Yong-gyun, protesters march from Seoul National University Hospital, where Kim's body is being kept, to Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul, Sunday, to take part in a memorial event on the 49th day since his death. / Korea Times photo by Ryu Hyo-jin |
By Lee Suh-yoon
The National Human Rights Commission of Korea (NHRCK) announced Monday that it will launch an investigation into working conditions at coal-fired power plants.
The announcement came on the 50th day after the death Kim Yong-gyun, 24, a young mechanic who was killed in a conveyer belt accident last December. Kim had been working an overnight shift alone ― contrary to regulations ― at Taean Power Plant in South Chungcheong Province.
"Though safe working conditions are a universal right for all employees, irregular workers have a seven times higher chance of dying in industrial accidents than regular ones," Choi Young-ae, the NHRCK head, said in a press statement. "To tackle this problem at its roots, the commission will conduct an assessment of the working conditions at coal-fired power plants."
According to the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), 97 percent of industrial accidents that took place at the nation's five major power companies between 2012 and 2016 involved temporary workers like Kim.
On Sunday, civic groups conducted a traditional Buddhist memorial service, which is held on the 49th day following death, for Kim at Gwanghwamun Square in central Seoul. Kim's parents and civic groups have delayed his funeral, saying his death remains "unresolved" in terms of holding Kim's employer, the state-run Korea Western Power (KOWEPO), accountable, and ensuring safer working conditions for other irregular workers supplied by subcontractors.
"The 49th day is supposed to be when the dead finally leave for the underworld. It crushes me that we cannot yet carry out his funeral and are leaving the body in a freezer," Kim's mother, Kim Mi-sook, told mourners at the square. "At the very least, we need to create a working environment that does not take workers' lives."
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| Kim Mi-sook, the mother of deceased maintenance worker Kim Yong-gyun, sheds tears at a memorial event held in Gwanghwamun Square, Sunday. /Korea Times photo by Ryu Hyo-jin |
Groups claim Kim was not given proper safety training and was forced to work alone despite safety rules requiring shifts be comprised of two people. According to workers, KOWEPO repeatedly refused requests to make necessary safety upgrades citing costs.
The government-led privatization of the Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) and its subsidiaries since 2013 is partly responsible for hazardous working conditions at power plants, critics say.
"Outsourcing of dangerous tasks to private subcontractors takes away the responsibility of investing in safety from the parent companies. Industrial accidents that happen in their factories after outsourcing are counted toward the subcontractors' figures, not theirs," Cho Sung-ae, a fact-finding team leader at a civic alliance formed after Kim's death, told The Korea Times, Monday. "Subcontractors cannot ask the parent company to pay for safety upgrades either because they have to toe the line with them to renew contracts every few years."
According to data from the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy released last October, the number of machinery failures each year at power plants increased by 28 percent between 2013 and 2017.
Kim's death revived legislative activity around the Occupational Safety and Health Act. But amendments passed last month only ban work outsourcing to subcontractors for metal-plating tasks that deal with harmful elements such as mercury and lead.
NHRCK head Choi, too, acknowledged these shortfalls in the legislative response to Kim's death.
"There are concerns that the changes are not enough to protect subcontracted workers, as the ban on subcontract labor is narrow and thus not applicable in the Guui Station safety screen door accident or power plant maintenance tasks," Choi said. "There is a need for a thorough reassessment of dangerous labor outsourcing practices directly linked to citizens' lives and safety."
