(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Seong-gu Ok = Applications for industrial accidents in the construction industry have increased by nearly 30% in the past three years, while applications for industrial accidents due to disease have increased more than four-fold over the same period.
In the land and water transportation industry, the number of industrial accident claims has nearly doubled, raising the need for measures to reduce occupational diseases in industries that require a lot of physical strain.
According to data received from the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service by the office of Democratic Party lawmaker Yeom Tae-young, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, on the 4th, the number of applications for industrial accidents in the construction industry last year amounted to 42,837. Of these, 35,958 cases were recognized as industrial accidents.
Applications for industrial accidents in the construction industry are increasing every year, with 33,149 cases in 2022, 35,349 cases in 2023, 38,932 cases in 2024, and 42,837 cases last year. This year, 33,297 industrial accidents were filed as of August, which is expected to be the highest ever recorded by the end of the year.
In particular, among construction industry industrial accidents, applications for industrial disease accidents have increased significantly.
Applications for industrial diseases and industrial accidents in the construction industry increased 4.4 times from 4,542 cases in 2022 to 20,000 cases last year. This year, 19,258 applications for industrial accidents due to illness among construction workers were received as of August, already approaching last year's annual figure. Among these, 12,582 cases were approved for industrial accidents due to disease.
The number of construction workers' bereaved families approved for industrial accidents due to illness also nearly doubled, from 58 in 2022 to 103 last year. This year, 73 industrial workers were approved for illness as of August.
The number of industrial accidents has also increased in the land and water transport industry.
The number of applications for industrial accidents in the land and water transportation industry increased from 10,162 in 2022 to 14,858 last year, and the number of approvals also surged from 9,317 to 13,420 over the same period.
Applications for industrial accidents due to disease increased from 615 in 2022 to 1,134 last year, and the number of disease approvals also increased from 292 in the same period to 409 last year.
The number of bereaved families approved for industrial compensation due to illness increased from 36 in 2022 to 47 last year. This year, 19 industrial deaths due to disease were recognized as of August.
The increase in industrial accident claims in the construction industry is interpreted to be due to the cumulative effect of musculoskeletal diseases, etc., due to the large number of older workers and the prolonged period of physically demanding work such as pouring and forming.
The land and water transportation industry is also considered to be an industry with a high risk of musculoskeletal and cerebrovascular diseases due to long driving hours and irregular working environments. In particular, in the case of delivery and delivery workers, long driving hours and exposure to adverse weather conditions such as heat waves and cold waves are pointed out as factors that increase physical burden.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor is promoting the introduction of the 'Basic Workplace Act' and the 'Employee Presumption System' to protect special employment and platform workers while making the right to stop work substantive and implementing customized close supervision to reduce industrial accidents in the construction industry.
Rep. Tae-young Yeom emphasized, “As the number of industrial accidents due to diseases is rapidly increasing in work environments with great physical burden, such as construction and delivery industries, measures to prevent long hours and high-intensity work are urgently needed. As it is difficult to prove causality in industrial accidents due to diseases, the industrial accident recognition procedures and support system must be improved so that the burden of proof is not left to workers alone.”
