Ryu Hyun-chul, head of the Industrial Safety and Health Headquarters at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, conducted an emergency on-site inspection on December 16th in Gyeonggi Province to prepare for the cold wave at farms employing foreign workers. Since December 1st, the Ministry of Employment and Labor has been conducting joint inspections with local governments targeting farms and fisheries employing foreign workers to prepare for the cold wave.
Ryu visited a small farm employing Cambodian workers to inspect heating and insulation in workplaces and residential facilities, fire prevention facilities, and emergency evacuation routes. Additionally, he guided the improvement of outdated illegal temporary buildings provided as foreign workers’ accommodations and notified the schedule for follow-up inspections.
After the inspection, he distributed the ‘Five Basic Rules for Cold Wave Safety’ and ‘Guidelines for Protecting the Rights of Foreign Workers’ produced in Korean and Cambodian to employers and foreign workers, and provided cold disease prevention supplies such as hot packs and ear muffs.
Ryu emphasized that there should be no disparity in risk due to nationality and added that special preparations are needed to ensure the safety and health of both domestic and foreign workers as sudden cold waves become more frequent due to climate change. He also stated that employers should pay special attention to the safety of foreign workers living in poor accommodations and that the government will do its best to ensure that foreign workers are not marginalized and that our rural areas become safer and more prosperous together with foreign workers.