11 Suspected Lung Cancer Cases in Incheon School Cafeterias... City Education Office to Implement Worker Protection Measures

Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education announced on the 23rd that it will implement emergency protective measures for suspected lung cancer cases to safeguard the health of school cafeteria workers.

The Office recognized the increase in confirmed lung cancer cases among school cafeteria cooking staff from 3 in the first half of this year to 6 in the second half as an urgent situation, and has prepared protective measures to minimize contact between suspected lung cancer cases and harmful factors such as cooking fumes.

Suspected lung cancer cases refer to individuals who received a medical finding of category 4 (nodules 8mm or larger) out of categories 0 to 4 in chest CT screenings conducted last year on school cafeteria cooking staff. There are a total of 11 suspected lung cancer cases in the Incheon Office of Education (1 has retired).

School Meals

To minimize exposure to cooking fumes for suspected lung cancer cases, the Office decided to exclude them from direct cooking duties and assign them to food ingredient preprocessing and cafeteria management.

To prevent deterioration of working conditions for other workers, additional staffing measures will be implemented at the respective schools.

Medical support for cooking staff will also be expanded, with annual regular check-ups conducted for all cooking staff, and follow-up tests and biopsies supported for those with abnormal findings.

An official from the Incheon Metropolitan Office of Education stated, "Environmental improvement design work is currently underway in 40 school cafeterias," and added, "We plan to complete ventilation facility improvement construction in a total of 87 schools by next year."

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