Korean-Chinese workers account for high percentage of accidents in the food service and wholesale and retail industries 

8 out of 10 accident cases of migrant workers are Korean-Chinese in the food service industry

KOSHA provides safety and health guidelines with the food service and wholesale and retail industries

24^th August

KOSHA provides guidelines on safety rules and frequent accident cases with Korean-Chinese working in the service sector especially food service and wholesale and retail industries.

According to the occupational accidents statistics, there were 869 accident cases for migrant workers in the service industry among which the food service sector reported 592 cases followed by 120 cases of the wholesale and retail sector.

<Table1. No. of migrant workers’ accidents in the service sector in 2011>

In the food service sector, 8 out of 10 (81.9% or 485 cases) were Korean-Chinese among other nationalities. They account for 71.6% (86 cases) of accidents in the wholesale and retail industry.

<Table2. No. of accidents in the service sector by nationalities in 2011>

<Table3. No. of accidents in the wholesale and retail sector by nationalities in 2011>

By the types of accidents, slip and trip were the most frequent type in the food service industry while crush accidents were the highest in the wholesale and retail industry.

<Table4. Accident types in the food service industry>

<Table5. Accident types in the wholesale and retail industry>

Considering the situation, KOSHA decided to provide 96,000 issues of guidelines on safety rules and accident cases, to prevent accidents for Korean-Chinese working in the food service and wholesale and retail industries.

The guidelines would be delivered to work sites through KOSHA’s visiting service for technical assistance to the food service and wholesale and retail industries. Meanwhile the guidelines would also be updated on the website to encourage workplaces to use them to train workers.

According to a person from KOSHA, the agency organized a task force team to prevent accidents of migrant workers. The task force team is involved in improving rules and regulations, strengthening OSH training and expanding technical assistance. The team encourages employer to pay attention to preventing migrant workers’ accidents, who are mostly exposed to unfamiliar work environment.