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The collapse of the Seongsu Bridge in 1994, the collapse of the Sampoong Department Store in 1995,
the blaze in the subway system of Daegu in 2003, the oil spill in the sea west of the Korean Peninsula in
2008, and the fire at Namdaemun(Sungnyemun) in 2008. This series of accidents have something in common. A primary cause was neglect of safety precaution. At the moment when you think “It will be okay.” or “Never” safety accidents have already happened.
The recent fire of Namdaemun(Sungnyemun) could have nipped in the bud. Korea’s burned National Treasure No.1 was not preserved well. Jung-gu Office who has responsibility to take care of Namdaemun(Sungnyemun) didn’t arrange guards around it. After opening Namdaemun(Sungnyemun) to the public, danger rose. So they needed more security men and equipments, but Jung-gu Office even removed the CCTV. Of course, this accident began from thinking like “No one would destroy this NATIONAL TREASURE, never.”
The fire in a refrigerated warehouse in Icheon, Gyeonggi which happened 2 months ago, is also not different from these above accidents. The biggest reason of this accident was unworking fire doors. A role of fire doors is to block spreading blazes and poisonous gases, so they help people to have enough time to escape. Then, why didn’t the fire doors work? Because some laborers wanted to minimize the inconveniences, they handled sprinklers, fire doors, and alarms not to work which should have operated in fire accident. Victims stated that they altered the auto-operated fire fighting equipments to be hand operated.
If the fire door operated well, it would have saved lives from the fire. In addition, heavy casualties were caused by a lack of fire exits. If there was one more fire extinguisher or one more emergency exit, many people could have been saved. These minor facilities could change the 33 victims into survivors.
Hyundai Research Institute reported the mortality rate per 10,000 Korean laborers was 1.14 last year, and it is far higher than other OECD(Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development) countries; Japan was 0.30, Germany was 0.25, and the US was 0.52. Researchers also reported, according to statistics, the economic losses from industrial injury were 15trillion 800million won. This forms 2.2% of the nominal GDP(Gross Domestic Product), and it causes enormous damage not only companies but also the whole countries economy. Why does Korea have a much higher mortality related safety than other advanced countries? Let’s find remote causes for the neglect of safety precautions.
There are three main reasons for Koreans’s neglect of safety precautions. The first reason is a social disposition that leads to speed. The fire in the refrigerated ware house in Icheon reveals an aspect of ‘pali-pali’Korean culture. The owner of the company made laborers who came from China work without labor contracts or safety devices to finish quickly. Moreover, they didn’t teach them safety regulations. Also, according to a laborer who retired before the accident, the main reason of this fire was welding with spark in warehouse that was full of oil vapor. As a result, some processes which must not come along together were done at the same time to shorten the period of construction.
This heading to speed thought started in the 1970’s and 1980’s that superspeed economic development was the only way to survive in the international market. In other words, at that time, Koreans were eager to escape from poverty. So they increased production immoderately. Of course, this thought didn’t always bring bad results. Through this way of thinking, Korea made rapid economical progress. We achieved developments during 50 years that took other countries hundreds of years to achieve. However, because we have emphasized only the onsequence of fast development, this thought came back as a fatal Achilles’ heel. Detailed processes were paid no attention and has caused the neglect of safety precautions. The collapse of the Sampoong Department Store is an example of not noticing the importance of details. They didn’t check building materials and progresses to finish construction. As a result, it was recorded as a disastrous accident that had about 700 victims.
The second reason is excessive seeking of profits. In enterprises’shoes, there are many strategies to minimize the cost. They fire laborers, who work in the field of checking safety progress to cut the total cost. In actuality, the government removed some industrial safety regulations when they modified some laws after the IMF in 1997. So industrial mortality increased again. This statistic shows well how excessive seeking of profits can bring the neglect of safety precautions.
Most of us are insured against big diseases or calamities. When we pay insurance fees to an insurance company before we get the benefits of insurance, we sometimes grudge that money. However, when you, your family, or friends get sick or die, sometimes you or your friends get insurance money for that. Then you think it was good choice to buy insurance. If you didn’t pay for insurance, what would happen? If a patient gets serious disease like cancer or has on accident, it will be hard to pay medical bills. To make matters worse, you can’ pay the charge anymore, even though its disease can be handled easily. Then, you can’ be treated anymore, and the diseases get worse, and you could die. By the way, in our situation,economic and moral pressures are given to the patient narrowly, and the family and friends widely. You should notice that massive social structures, companies or factories can influence citizens and even their families in moral, physical, and economical ways. In this way, neglecting safety is the same as giving up insurance for unexpected accidents or disasters. Both humans and society should keep in mind that they should not ‘repair stable after losing cows’
The third reason is that people living in poverty have little protection. You can also see the rich-get-richer and the poor-getpoorer in industrial safety fields. According to statistics, minor companies have a higher rate of disaster than major companies. Also, compensation is small. Aged laborers who are second-class make up more than 30% of industrial accidents, and women laborers another 15%. Moreover, foreign laborers are increasing in construction, but safety training is not done, so they are exposed to danger. However, after safety education, it shows the rich-get-richer and the poor-get-poorer in guarding their safety. The rich are already safe, and they want to be safer, so they pay more and are more safe. On the other hand, people who are not in a good economical situation, can’ pay the cost of guarding their safety. It means they go on living in unsafe situations.
Let’ find out a cure for neglect of safety precautions. First of all, we need thorough safety education and to change our way of thinking. Neglecting of safety precautions, carelessness, tragic accident, many casualties, a bereaved families’sobbing, and being buried in oblivion . It is a repeating chain. However, neglect of safety precautions is not a personal responsibility, but a national responsibility. So punishing the person who caused the accident is not a fundamental solution. Emphasizing safety is more important. You must always make sure that safety is connected directly with your life and be aware of the safety. The National Emergency Management Agency started to manage ‘safety auto-diagnosis service’from last year. This service is composed of 45 clauses and you can measure your safety level in three fields including everyday life, controlling fire, and safety from disasters. Levels are divided into three: blue, yellow, and red. Also, you can measure safety level by region.
In early 1930’s, Heinrich, a manager of an insurance company, announced 1:29:300 law through research about industrial accidents. He said, “when one disaster happens, there were already minor accidents and more than 300 indications.” Now, look at your surroundings. Are you really SAFE?
