Assemblyman Lee Hyung-seok Proposes Legislation to Establish 'Firefighting Psychological Support Team'

[Asia Economy Honam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Yoon Jamin] A bill establishing a Firefighter Psychological Support Team to reduce the suicide rate among firefighters has been proposed.

Assemblyman Lee Hyung-seok (Democratic Party of Korea, Gwangju Buk-gu Eul) announced on the 4th that he has taken the lead in proposing the "Firefighter Health, Safety, and Welfare Basic Act," which aims to establish a psychological support system to prevent firefighter suicides.

In the past 10 years (2010?2019), a total of 91 firefighters have taken extreme measures. This figure is 1.7 times higher than the number of firefighters who died in the line of duty, and as of 2017, the suicide rate among firefighters was 1.6 times that of the police and 2.6 times the OECD average.

Firefighter suicides lead to national losses. According to a 2016 research report, the economic loss caused by firefighter suicides is estimated at 10 billion KRW annually, resulting in a waste of national manpower and socioeconomic losses.

Accordingly, the government is working to improve firefighters' working conditions and quality of life through the "Firefighter Health, Safety, and Welfare Basic Act." Efforts are also being made to enhance the quality of fire services by enabling firefighters to take pride and confidence in their work and focus on firefighting duties.

The Firefighter Welfare Act, led by Assemblyman Lee, is a bill to establish the legal basis for the installation of a "Firefighter Psychological Support Team" to create an effective psychological counseling and suicide prevention environment within the organization through colleagues who understand the characteristics of firefighting work.

The Firefighter Psychological Support Team, established under the law, will support the mental and physical health stability and treatment of firefighters, including recovery from post-traumatic stress disorder and suicide prevention.

The support team will perform tasks such as ▲ overall management of peer support teams and mobile counseling offices ▲ operation of health psychology management policies and comprehensive psychological evaluation systems according to firefighters' life cycles, playing a role in reducing the suicide rate among firefighters.

Assemblyman Lee said, "The effectiveness of establishing a psychological support system among fellow firefighters is guaranteed, as it is already institutionalized and operated in Illinois, USA," and added, "It is necessary to prepare special measures to reduce the suicide rate among firefighters through the establishment of the Firefighter Psychological Support Team and related systems."

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