Jung-gu Mourns Death of Cleaning Service Worker, Plans Measures to Prevent Recurrence

Jung-gu District Office in Seoul (Mayor Kim Gil-seong) expressed deep condolences and sympathy for Park, an employee of a cleaning subcontractor who passed away from a heart attack while working on the 24th. The office stated that it will thoroughly inspect the safety of the work environment and make greater efforts to improve the treatment of workers to ensure that such incidents never happen again.

Additionally, the district requested corrections regarding some inaccurate reports by certain media outlets about the circumstances of Park’s death.

The district explained that the claim by the democratic labor union that “we have repeatedly demanded Jung-gu District Office to guarantee the health rights of cleaning workers and allocate adequate personnel, but the office has evaded responsibility” is not true.

In fact, the subcontractor company, one of the waste collection and transportation agencies in Jung-gu, employs more staff than the contracted number. Since the subcontractor collects bulky waste and recyclables during the day as well, the calculation of workforce considers both day and night workers. The actual number of workers may be adjusted flexibly depending on the site conditions.

The district has explained the criteria for calculating the number of workers through several meetings with the labor union to improve workers’ treatment. This unfortunate accident occurred as the district increased the number of workers by hiring new employees to reduce their workload. Besides mourning the deceased, the district asked the union to stop repeating baseless unilateral claims.

Furthermore, it was confirmed that the cleaning subcontractor required Park to submit a health screening questionnaire before hiring, and Park had filled out and submitted the questionnaire including pre-existing conditions he had been suffering from.

Jung-gu also presented measures to prevent recurrence.

The district has prioritized the safety of workers handling household waste and has thoroughly inspected to prevent industrial accidents and safety incidents. It has continuously supervised and guided four subcontractors, closely monitoring compliance with safety standards such as prohibiting hanging onto vehicles during work.

In this regard, last December, Jung-gu strengthened safety standards by even revising the contract for ‘household waste collection and transportation subcontracting services.’ Through this, the district imposed maximum penalty points and strict disciplinary actions for safety accidents, failure of subcontractor supervisors to fulfill their duties, safety violations during waste collection and transportation, and inadequate safety and health management organization.

Moreover, to prevent accidents and safety incidents, the district regularly patrols workplaces, conducts joint inspections with related agencies, checks safety and health education, and evaluates safety and health levels. To ensure that subcontractor workers who strive to keep the streets clean in unseen places can work in a safer and more pleasant environment, the district has significantly increased the related budget for next year.

Kim Gil-seong, Mayor of Jung-gu, stated, “I once again express my deepest condolences to the worker who tragically passed away on his first day of work and to his bereaved family,” and emphasized, “We will further strengthen safety and management supervision to prevent such incidents from recurring.”

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