Workers Battling Heatwaves at Scorching Construction Sites... Over 830 Heat Illness Cases Recorded in July

"No Rest Areas and Difficult to Observe Break Times"
7 Suspected Deaths from Heatwave Last Month

On the 15th, as the monsoon front retreated and the heatwave returned, a worker is quenching his thirst at a construction site in Seoul. Photo by Jinhyung Kang aymsdream@

On the 2nd, at a construction site in Jongno-gu, Seoul, Mr. Park (62) said, "It's been two days since I came to the site, but there is no indoor resting area where we can take a break," adding, "We have to find nearby buildings or shaded spots on our own to rest." Mr. Kim, in his late 20s, said, "I’m just resting under the pilotis," and added, "Although I drink a lot of water, when work piles up, it’s difficult to take the 10-15 minutes break per hour." Most workers at the site said that despite the heatwave with daytime temperatures close to 36 degrees Celsius, work stoppages did not occur.

As the rainy season ended and early heat intensified, construction site workers are facing difficulties. Earlier, the Construction Workers’ Union surveyed 23 construction sites of the Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) and found that while an average of 172 workers were deployed per site, there were only 2.5 rest areas on average. Among these rest areas, 21.7% had no air conditioning facilities.

According to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency’s (KDCA) “Heat-related Illness Emergency Room Surveillance System” report on the 4th, 830 heat-related illness cases and 7 suspected heatwave deaths were recorded from the 1st to the 31st of last month. The KDCA’s heat-related illness emergency room surveillance system operates based on voluntary participation from about 500 emergency medical institutions nationwide. In the past two months, heat-related illnesses mainly occurred at workplaces (35.9%) and fields (14.9%). Professor Kwon Dae-jung of Myongji University’s Department of Real Estate said, "There should be regulations to create resting spaces when constructing buildings of a certain scale or larger," adding, "Local governments should take the lead in managing and supervising this."

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to conduct focused inspections from the 11th of last month to the 19th of this month to check whether workplaces are implementing safety and health measures such as the three major heatstroke prevention rules (providing water, shade, and rest) during outdoor work.

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