Last year, 127 deaths from industrial accidents during commuting were approved… 74 cases recorded as of July this year

Last year, 97% of applicants were involved in accidents while commuting to work... As of July this year, 74 deaths have been approved.

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Ok Seong-gu = The number of approved industrial deaths due to accidents on the way to and from home and work exceeds 100 each year.

According to data received from the Ministry of Employment and Labor by the office of People Power Party lawmaker Kim Wi-sang, a member of the National Assembly's Climate, Energy, Environment and Labor Committee on the 27th, the number of applications for industrial accidents during commuting last year was 14,075. Of these, 13,308 cases were recognized as industrial accidents.

Applications for commuting industrial accidents are rapidly increasing every year, from 8,932 in 2021 to 9,326 in 2022, 11,752 in 2023, 12,864 in 2024, and 14,075 in 2025. This year, 8,778 applications for commuting industrial accidents were received as of July.

Commuting industrial accidents are widely recognized even if injuries occur within the scope of daily life, such as helping children to and from school or receiving medical treatment at the hospital.

However, cases that are not work-related, such as getting injured while working out at the gym after work or having an accident while having a private drink with friends after work, are not recognized as industrial accidents.

Previously, only commuting accidents under the employer's management were recognized as industrial accidents, but with the revision of the Industrial Accident Compensation Act in 2018, accidents occurring during the normal commuting process were also recognized as industrial accidents.

By type, the majority of accidents occurred during normal commuting, such as public transportation, driving, or walking.

As of last year, out of the 14,075 applications for commuting industrial accidents, 13,623 (96.8%) were ordinary commuting accidents.

A total of 452 accidents (3.2%) occurred while commuting to work on commuter buses or shuttle buses provided by employers.

In particular, the number of industrial accidents approved for bereaved family benefits due to fatal accidents on the way to work exceeds 100 each year.

The number of industrial accident approvals for commuting survivors by year is 125 in 2021, 141 in 2022, 128 in 2023, 112 in 2024, and 127 last year. This year, 74 industrial accident deaths were approved as of July.

Rep. Kim Wi-sang said, “Every year, more than 100 workers are unable to return home on their way to work, so we need to strengthen preemptive safety inspections,” and added, “We need to reorganize the institutional rescue network to ensure prompt compensation even after an accident occurs.”