Union Calls for Thorough Investigation After Apartment Maintenance Worker's Death
A labor organization, the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU), has called for a thorough investigation into the circumstances surrounding the death of a maintenance office worker in his 20s, who was found dead last month while showering in the machine room of an apartment complex in Incheon.
The accident occurred at around 10:37 a.m. on the 23rd of last month in the basement machine room of an apartment complex in Okryeon-dong, Yeonsu-gu, Incheon. Mr. A, a maintenance office employee, died while using a shower installed there. The shower was located between mechanical equipment such as a boiler and an electric motor, and a notice reading, 'Please check for electrical leakage before using water' was posted on one side of the machine room.
The Serious Accidents Response Team of the KCTU's Incheon branch said in a statement on the 14th that "this apartment had entrusted its residential management duties to a housing management contractor." It explained that in such cases, the residents' representative council is excluded from health and safety liability, and the management contractor bears responsibility as the employer or the contracting party for outsourced work.
The team argued that "with health and safety responsibility effectively absent, apartment facility management workers had no choice but to shower while braving the risk of electric shock." It also pointed out that under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the obligation to install washing facilities applies only to limited cases such as the handling of hazardous chemicals, leaving workers' right to wash themselves unguaranteed. In its statement, the team called for a thorough investigation as well as a comprehensive inspection of all residential complexes by the city of Incheon and the provision of safe washing, rest, and break facilities.
Police, having received a preliminary oral opinion from the National Forensic Service that Mr. A is presumed to have died of electrocution, are investigating the exact circumstances. A simple on-site measurement conducted by police detected an electrical leakage.
