Subway Corporation Employee Assaulted Every Other Day?

Seoul Metro Protects Employees from Drunken and Weapon Threats with ‘Self-Protection Safety Training’

Safety Training Implemented to Protect Employees from Customer Assaults… First Among Urban Railway Operators

Actress Lee Yu-ri Conducts Training Lecture on the 21st

Violence Against Subway Employees Punishable by Up to 5 Years Imprisonment or a Fine up to 50 Million KRW under the Railroad Safety Act

“The Best Solution Is a Culture of Mutual Respect Without Violence… We Hope for Broad Understanding from Citizens”

Actor Lee Yu-ri giving self-protection safety training to construction workers

Seoul Metro (President Baek Ho) is conducting ‘Self-Protection Safety Training’ for over 3,600 station employees and subway security officers who interact with customers in the subway.

As of the end of May this year, there have been 64 cases of verbal abuse and physical assault against company employees by passengers. This averages to about one incident every two days. In particular, assaults by intoxicated passengers accounted for 42 cases, making up more than 65% of the total.

This ‘Self-Protection Safety Training’ has been prepared as one of the countermeasures to protect employees’ physical safety from such harm and to provide proper service to customers.

Until now, in Korea, such training has mainly been taken by organizations exercising public authority such as police and correctional officers, as well as local government civil servants handling public complaints and hospital staff who frequently engage with the public. However, Seoul Metro is the first urban railway operator to conduct training aimed at protecting employees responsible for citizen safety.

Overseas, Japan regularly offers self-defense classes for station employees, and countries like Canada have provided self-defense training for general passengers on public transportation.

This training is being conducted with the cooperation of a self-defense training specialist company (Korea Martial Arts Club) and the Korea Women’s Crime Prevention Association. Notably, on the 21st, actress Lee Yu-ri visited the company and personally conducted training for station employees, drawing attention.

Actress Lee Yu-ri has a deep connection with Seoul Metro, having been appointed as a promotional ambassador for its predecessor, ‘Seoul Metro,’ in 2008.

The training consists of 20% theory and 80% practical exercises, tailored by reconstructing situations frequently encountered during subway duty.

Particularly, the training places a high emphasis on how to respond to intoxicated passengers and how to handle individuals armed with weapons, which are the most common threats employees face.

A survey conducted among employees who completed the course showed high satisfaction, with 87% of security officers and 94% of station employees responding that they were ‘satisfied.’

Since this year, the company has provided pepper spray, cut-resistant gloves, and stun guns to protect station employees, and plans to distribute cut-resistant clothing in July. Guidelines have also been established stating that pepper spray and stun guns should be used only to protect one’s own body and not excessively.

Kim Seok-ho, Head of Operations at Seoul Metro, stated, “More than 7 million passengers use the Seoul subway daily, so assaults by intoxicated passengers sometimes occur. We implemented this training because we believe employees need the ability to protect themselves in threatening situations.”

He added, “Violence against subway employees is a serious crime punishable by up to 5 years imprisonment or a fine up to 50 million KRW under the Railroad Safety Act. To eradicate this, it is fundamentally necessary for employees and customers to respect each other.”

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