Lee Jae-myung: "Icheon Logistics Warehouse Fire is a Labor Safety Issue in Industrial Sites"

[Asia Economy (Suwon) = Reporter Lee Young-gyu] Lee Jae-myung, Governor of Gyeonggi Province, pointed out that the Icheon logistics center fire accident, which claimed 38 precious lives, is an industrial safety issue in the workplace rather than a firefighting or fire issue.

Therefore, he argued that the current labor inspectors managing industrial sites should be changed to labor police, the current workforce should be increased about threefold to around 10,000 personnel, and local governments should also be granted on-site supervision authority.

On May 1, Labor Day, Lee posted on Facebook an article titled "The Icheon Fire Accident is an Industrial Safety Labor Issue, Not Firefighting," diagnosing it as "the result of the minimum industrial safety measures to protect workers' lives and safety at the warehouse construction site not functioning properly."

He especially lamented, "This unfortunate event happened again, entangled with the public responsibility that failed to enforce industrial site safety due to the employer’s unscrupulousness prioritizing cost savings over workers' lives and a shortage of personnel, something that was bound to happen someday."

He continued, "If only the regulation prohibiting welding work that produces sparks at construction sites with fire hazards such as volatile or flammable substances had been properly followed, if safety managers had been properly appointed and compliance monitored, and if someone had directly stopped fire-risk work on-site beyond just warning through paperwork, the Icheon fire accident would not have recurred."

Furthermore, he warned, "The world's highest industrial accident death rate is as much a disgrace to South Korea as the highest suicide rate," adding, "At the current state, misfortunes will inevitably continue."

He also insisted that when accidents occur in industrial sites, the beneficiaries should be severely punished, the current labor inspectors should be changed to labor police, and the workforce should be increased from the current level of about 3,000 to around 10,000.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.