By Kim Tae-jong
Staff Reporter
Seven workers are killed in industrial accidents every day on average in South Korean workplaces, according to statistics released Tuesday.
The Korean Occupational Safety & Health Agency said that out of a total of 90,147 cases reported as work-related accidents last year, 2,406 of them were fatalities.
The ratio of deaths per 10,000 workers has dropped to 1.92, the lowest level ever, but this is much higher than those of developed countries. As of 2004, the corresponding ratio was 0.53 in the United States, 0.3 in Japan, 0.26 in Germany and 0.07 in the United Kingdom.
Fatalities in the construction and manufacturing sectors made up 89 percent of the industrial accident deaths at 630 and 605, respectively.
The absence of safety measures is largely attributed to the high death rate _ on construction sites the number of deaths from a fall was 418, while in factories about 150 workers lost their life in machine-related accidents or from electric shocks.
Work-related illnesses also cost 1,023 workers' their lives _ 515 from brain and heart disease and 442 from pneumoconiosis.