80% of Laboratory Accidents Occur at Universities... Ministry of Science and ICT Actively Promotes '7 Major Tasks'

Laboratory. Stock photo. Not related to the article.

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bong-su] #. December 2019. An explosion accident occurred while three graduate students and one undergraduate student were handling chemical waste in a laboratory at the Chemistry Building of Kyungpook National University. As a result, one graduate student suffered third-degree burns over the entire body, and one undergraduate student sustained burns on 20% of the body, causing serious casualties.

On the afternoon of the 27th, the Ministry of Science and ICT held the '1st Science and Technology Organization Forum for Creating a Safe Laboratory Environment' at the Jeong Geun-mo Conference Hall of the Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST), announcing its commitment to actively implement the '7 Major Tasks' to prevent such accidents and create a safe laboratory environment.

At the event, Kang Sang-wook, Director of the Future Talent Policy Bureau of the Ministry of Science and ICT, expressed this commitment through a keynote presentation. The 7 major tasks are ▲expansion of safety management budgets, ▲expansion and empowerment of research safety professionals, ▲protection of student researchers, ▲strengthening safety education and raising awareness, ▲departure from formalistic safety management, ▲establishment of customized safety management systems, and ▲utilization of advanced science and technology for accident prevention.

Previously, the Ministry of Science and ICT revealed through the '2020 Laboratory Safety Management Status Survey' announced in December last year that there were a total of 232 accidents at domestic laboratories in 117 institutions last year, of which 3 were serious accidents. The total number of institutions subject to the Laboratory Safety Act last year was 4,035, with corporate research institutes (3,521) being the most numerous, followed by research institutes (176) and universities (338), with universities being the fewest. On the other hand, the total number of research activity workers was 1,322,814, of which university students, who are considered novice researchers, numbered 884,094 (66.8%), the largest group.

Accordingly, laboratory safety accidents occurred most frequently in university laboratories. Among the 379 laboratory accidents that occurred in 2018, 308 (81.3%) occurred in universities. In 2019, among 232 laboratory accidents, 146 (62.9%) occurred in universities. The Ministry of Science and ICT stated that the total number of research activity workers required to enroll in accident insurance was 1,165,022, and last year, all eligible individuals were found to have 100% insurance coverage.

On this day, Lee Woo-il, Chairman of the Korea Federation of Science and Technology Societies, and other leaders in the science and technology community emphasized the need for active roles of scientists and communication between the government and the field to protect science and technology talents, which are the driving force for future growth. They also proposed ways to advance safety technology by utilizing cutting-edge science and technology.

In addition, representatives from universities and corporate research institutes shared key safety issues and best practices in safety management at each institution, emphasizing that raising safety awareness among researchers as well as institutional officials is essential to prevent laboratory accidents.

Yong Hong-taek, Vice Minister of the Ministry of Science and ICT, stated, “National R&D investment must lead to outcomes that benefit our economy and the lives of our people, and a safe research environment is essential to support this.” He added, “Like the African proverb that it takes a whole village to raise a child, the entire science and technology community will work together to nurture and safely protect the scientific seedlings who will lead the future.”

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