Chairman Park Doo-yong of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) stresses the significance of safety whole touring a construction site. (Photos: KOSHA)

Over the last 32 years, the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency or KOSHA, has been dedicated to protecting the lives and health of workers.

While fulfilling its responsibilities, the KOSHA will pay the cost of leasing a safe integrated work platform (system scaffold) and purchasing a safety net to prevent falling accidents of workers at small construction sites of projects worth less than 5 billion won, each.

This project, which is carried out to prevent falls at small construction sites which account for 65.8 percent of deaths at construction sites will give up to 20 million won for each construction site in the case of a construction company leasing system scaffolds for the safety of workers.

Construction companies will also be able to support funds when they purchase safety nets. A total of 55.4 billion won will be provided.

The workplace disaster rate of construction sites supported by the KOSHA for six years from 2013 to 2018 arrived at 2.74 percent, which is 0.31 percentage points lower than 3.05 percent of those not supported by the KOSHA.

Accordingly, the KOSHA ramped up the budget to 55.4 billion won, up 23.2 billion won (72.3 percent) from 32.1 billion won in 2019. In addition, the government expanded the scope of construction companies that can receive the support.

A safety kit designed to prevent COVID-19, supplied by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency.

On the other hand, according to industrial accident statistics as of November 2019, about 404 people died in the construction industry and among them, 266 people died at small sites costing less than 5 billion won per project, accounting for more than half of the total construction deaths (65.8 percent) and 183 workers (68.7 percent) died by falling at small construction sites of projects which cost less than 5 billion won, each.

In the meantime, the KOSHA and the Seoul Metropolitan Government have decided to pay 90 percent of cost for preventing infectious diseases at call centers with less than 50 employees.

This budget is an emergency measure to prevent infectious diseases, and pay up to 25 million won for installing portable partitions, purchasing air purifiers and untact thermometers, and masks and hand sanitizers.

The KOSHA will burden 70 percent of the cost and the Seoul Metropolitan Government 20 percent. Thus, employers need to pay only 10 percent of the total cost.

The expansion of this support has greatly reduced financial burden on employers by the Seoul Metropolitan Government has decided to pay an additional 20 percent to call center working environment improvement project since March.

The target is small and mid-sized call centers employing less than 50 full-time workers, each. The KOSHA has been working with the Seoul Metropolitan Government since 2012 to improve the working environment of manufacturing work sites with less than 50 employees and poor safety and health environments at local companies.

KOSHA also took care of foreign workers in Korea having difficulties due to the spread of the COVID-19 plague. The labor and management of the KOSHA also donated 5,680 masks to protect foreign workers vulnerable to the novel coronavirus on April 5.

The KOSHA raised 10 million won in donation funds with the voluntary participation of all employees, purchased face masks and donated them to the Foreign Workers Support Center in the Seoul Metropolitan Area.

The delivered masks will be distributed to foreign workers in the Seoul metropolitan area, Incheon and Uijeongbu with high risks of being infected with the COVID-19 virus.

On the other hand, the labor and management of the KOSHA donated 20 million won, 240 level-D kits and 3,400 impermeable protective clothing to Daegu in March.

In cooperation with the Seoul Metropolitan Government, the KOSHA has been actively participating in helping companies and workers overcome the novel coronavirus crisis.