Korean Job Discussion Forums

[Yu_Bum_suk]

Has anyone ever heard of any government agency in Korea responsible for ensuring workplace safety? Right now a small crew of guys with a crane are putting the roof beams on our school's new gym. Three or four of them are walking around, about 40 feet off the ground, on scaffold poles about four inches wide. One guy this morning was walking around the outside of big verticle metal beams to make his way across the side of the roof while smoking a cigarette. None of them are wearing safety harnesses. It frightens me just to watch them. Yes, they're probably use to it but they're taking liberties I wouldn't if I were five feet off the ground and even on a normal surface everyone slips sometimes. It's really just a matter of time until one of them breaks his neck. Is there no one in Korea you can call to report such outrageous safety violations?

[tfunk]

Children can get a guided tour of a steel mill factory in Poyang. No safety gear, no railings...any falling and you'd have to make peace with molten iron.

[uberscheisse]

when i was a window cleaner in vancouver i always had to have two ropes. one to rappel on and one to catch me if the rappelling line broke. dudes here only use one.

it's crazy.

[Novernae]

They're building a bank downstairs from my hagwon. The smells are bad enough, but they've taken over the narrow main entrance as their working area. You walk in and have to squeeze behind a guy welding with sparks flying everywhere and hope not to get hit and remember to avert your eyes. Then we're followed by bus loads of kids. They idiots won't even move out of the way. They've been asked politely, yelled at, screamed at, and they won't move up to the second floor where they are actually building. The owner of the school has to go down every time a kid arrives or leaves to see if it is safe enough for them. And that doesn't even bring into consideration the shoddy construction that is resulting from these incompetent careless workers and owners. Any welders and builders I know at home would be horrified by the quality of work here. In fact, I'm going to stop thinking about it because it will inevitably lead me to consider the workmanship that went into my apartment.

[Yu_Bum_suk]

They ceased construction today because of gusting wind. And it was really starting to gust. Thank goodness they at least had the good sense to do that. One guy was sitting with his legs straddling a beam about six inches wide for a good part of the morning, working on something, at least 40 feet above the gym floor. If he had a lunch bucket it would have looked like a scene from the building of the Empire State Building.

[mindmetoo]

I just look at those escape flashlights they installed in subway stations in lieu of actual emergency lighting and gotta figure natch.

Anyone ever check the fire extinguishers at your school? Are they all on red?

[Yu_Bum_suk]

[Rapacious Mr. Batstove]

OK, Korea is pretty bad with its work place safety. Thailand is a hell of a lot worse. But this is Korea and the things I find amazing:

The power lines (hanging knots of wire tied by rope)

Scaffolding (often unsupported, never seen a worker with a harness)

Diggers for road maintenance ( no road cones or barriers, people walk under the load arm when its moving)

Visibility (ever seen a construction worker in a high-visibility vest? Nah!)

NZ Occupational Health and Safety would have a field-day.

Anyone heard anything about work place accident/death statistics here?
I doubt they even have a register for recording work place incidents.

[wylies99]

There's a huge construction site a few blocks down, right across from a major shopping area, with all kinds of dangerous things sitting right out in the open. It's a miracle no one has been hurt.

[cosmo]

http://www.gophergas.com/funstuff/womenlivelonger2.htm

Korea is not the only place where you find workplace safety issues.

[SPINOZA]

[Hater Depot]

하면 된다, guys.