Public workers take nap at a lounge in the Central Government Complex, Seoul, Monday. / Korea Times |
By Kim Rahn
Staff Reporter
Government offices will have lounges with beds along with exercise facilities, a move aimed at improving the health and preventing possible death from overwork among public servants.
Lounges called ``Refresh Zones'' will be set up on every two or three floors of each government building, according to the Ministry of Public Administration and Security, Monday.
The zones will have beds so that civil servants working overtime, on weekends or holidays can sleep and refresh themselves.
The ministry will also have all government buildings equipped with workout facilities and medical offices, along with exercise experts, by June. Three government complexes in Seoul, Gwacheon and Daejeon are already equipped with such facilities, but 17 other government buildings outside of the complexes are not.
``We've come up with the measures, as 42.2 percent of the deaths of public workers since 2004, or 301 out of 714, were deaths from overwork,'' a ministry official said.
The attention to health has been raised since Ahn Chul-shik, former vice minister of knowledge and economy, died in January, nine days after being appointed to the post, presumably because of exhaustion.
In a health checkup on 800 civil workers at the Central Government Complex last September, 51.3 percent were obese, 34.4 percent had trouble with blood pressure, 5.8 percent had hyperlipidemia and 4.7 percent were diabetic.
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