Day and Night Shift Worker Near Furnace Dies of Heart Disease... Court Rules "Work-Related Injury"

[Asia Economy Reporter Seongpil Cho] The court ruled that a worker who died from acute heart disease after working shift work near a factory blast furnace for several years can be recognized as having suffered a work-related injury.

According to the legal community on the 20th, the Seoul Administrative Court Administrative Division 8 (Chief Judge Jonghwan Lee) ruled in favor of the plaintiff in a lawsuit filed by the spouse of the deceased worker, Mr. A, against the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service to cancel the denial of survivor benefits and funeral expenses. The court stated, "It is reasonable to consider that Mr. A died due to work-related reasons," and "The denial of survivor benefits and funeral expenses by the Service is illegal and must be canceled."

Mr. A worked as a regular employee at a manufacturing plant for about 6 years and 4 months starting from April 2013. His job involved melting metal near the factory blast furnace to produce automobile parts. The temperature near the blast furnace was about 35℃, and the average noise level was about 82dB, a chronic noise level. Mr. A worked in shifts alternating weekly between day and night shifts, working more than 10 hours a day on average.

In August 2019, Mr. A was found collapsed at the factory during a night shift. He was transported to a nearby university hospital but ultimately passed away. The cause of death was ischemic heart disease. The bereaved family claimed survivor benefits and funeral expenses, arguing that Mr. A developed ischemic heart disease and died due to overwork and shift work, but the Service rejected the claim, stating that it was difficult to recognize a causal relationship between the work and the death. Mr. A’s spouse filed a lawsuit challenging the Service’s denial.

The court recognized that Mr. A developed ischemic heart disease and died due to work-related overwork and harmful factors, and canceled the decision not to pay survivor benefits. The court judged that long-term night shifts and day-night shift work, which adversely affect heart disease and biological rhythms, worsened pre-existing conditions (diabetes, hypertension), eventually manifesting as acute heart disease leading to death.

The court also noted that the average temperature and noise levels at Mr. A’s workplace exceeded standards, causing considerable fatigue and stress during work. It was also judged that the stress from frequent company shutdowns reducing wages, to the extent that Mr. A considered changing jobs, likely contributed to the onset of heart disease.

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