Delivery worker working 14 hours a day... "Insufficient safety and health measures, 400 million won fine"

Ministry of Employment Announces Results of Courier Company Supervision and Worker Survey
Conveyor Management Lapses Detected...137 Legal Cases Processed
High Demand for 'Delivery Fee Increase' and 'Additional Sorting Workforce'
Courier Companies Strengthen Franchisee Guidance and Inspection...Push for Legal Amendments

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] It has been revealed that 4 out of 10 delivery workers work more than 14 hours a day during peak seasons such as the Chuseok holiday. Despite this, many delivery companies and agencies did not conduct safety and health education or health checkups. The government took legal action against a total of 137 violations and imposed fines totaling 400 million KRW on companies that violated the law.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 1st the results of industrial safety and health inspections and working condition surveys conducted on four major delivery companies including CJ Logistics, their agencies, and others.

With the full revision of the Industrial Safety and Health Act last year, from January this year, special types of workers such as delivery workers have been included under the protection of the law.

Accordingly, the Ministry of Employment and Labor conducted inspections on agencies to check whether agency owners properly implement safety and health measures and education for delivery workers. For safety and health measures related to facilities such as conveyors within sub-terminals where delivery workers perform sorting tasks, inspections were conducted targeting delivery companies.

The inspection targets were selected based on cargo volume, choosing the top four delivery companies, and nationwide inspections were conducted on 44 affiliated sub-terminals (about 10% of the total), partner companies, and 430 agencies linked to the sub-terminals.

As a result of inspections on 44 sub-terminals and 40 associated partner companies, 132 violations were subject to legal action and fines totaling 205 million KRW were imposed.

In the case of sub-terminals, 126 cases were legally processed for violations of safety and health measures such as failure to install conveyor protective devices. Fines of 66 million KRW were imposed for failure to perform supervisory duties and failure to conduct regular safety and health education.

Partner companies faced legal action in 6 cases for violations such as failure to conduct regular hazardous factor investigations related to musculoskeletal burden tasks, and fines of 139 million KRW were imposed for failure to conduct safety and health education and health checkups.

Inspections were conducted on 430 agencies, with 5 legal violations from 3 agencies prosecuted. Fines totaling 206 million KRW were imposed on 208 agencies. The main reasons for legal action were lack of emergency stop devices on conveyors and failure to investigate musculoskeletal hazardous factors. Most fines were for failure to conduct safety and health education.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Additionally, the Ministry of Employment and Labor conducted a survey on 1,862 delivery workers regarding working hours, delivery volume, and health management.

The results showed that 90% of delivery workers work more than 10 hours a day. In particular, about 40% of respondents said they work more than 14 hours during peak seasons such as the Chuseok holiday, and 12 to 14 hours during off-peak seasons.

Responses indicating working 6 days a week were 95.2% during off-peak seasons and 84.9% during peak seasons. During peak seasons, 12.4% said they work all 7 days of the week. Most respondents (88.8%) reported less than 30 minutes of daily break time, including lunch.

Regarding delivery volume, 20.5% said they deliver 350 to 400 packages per day during peak seasons, and 24.2% said 250 to 300 packages during off-peak seasons, the highest percentages. When asked about support measures for the surge in delivery volume during peak seasons, the most common answer was "additional manpower deployment (46.1%)." This was followed by "prohibition of disadvantages due to delivery delays (27.9%)," "adjustment of delivery volume (13.5%)," and "extension of delivery deadlines (7.6%)."

When asked about the main causes of pain in the waist, shoulders, etc., related to work over the past year, "sorting tasks such as loading and unloading" was the highest at 33.4% (multiple responses allowed). Next were "lack of rest (22.4%)" and "repeated stair climbing (17.4%)." The biggest reason for not receiving medical treatment or examinations was "lack of time (45.1%)."

Regarding improvements desired from the government for the delivery industry, the highest response was "increase in delivery fees (31.4%, multiple responses allowed)." This was followed by "deployment of specialized sorting personnel (25.6%)," "introduction of a five-day workweek for delivery workers (22.4%)," and "allowance of delayed deliveries (7.4%)."

An official from the Ministry of Employment and Labor said, "This inspection confirmed that safety and health education and measures for delivery workers are still insufficient. We plan to strengthen guidance, inspections, and publicity to ensure that delivery companies and agency owners comply with the Industrial Safety and Health Act."

The Ministry of Employment and Labor will hold a meeting this month with the delivery industry, the Korea Integrated Logistics Association, and the National Agency Federation. The results of this inspection will be shared with the industry to raise awareness of the need to protect the safety and health of workers.

The Industrial Safety and Health Act will also be amended to strengthen delivery companies' responsibility for the safety and health of delivery workers. Additionally, a special reporting period for unfair practices within the delivery industry will be operated until the end of this month.

Park Young-man, Director of the Industrial Accident Prevention and Compensation Policy Bureau at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, stated, "We will continue to guide the industry so that delivery workers can work safely and healthily, and prepare institutional improvements and support measures such as legal amendments."