Presidential Pre-candidate Yoo Seung-min's First Statement on 'Industrial Accident Prevention': "Ban Simultaneous Work in Hazardous Jobs"

[Asia Economy Reporter Naju-seok] Yoo Seung-min, a former lawmaker and presidential candidate of the People Power Party, promised to ban simultaneous work to prevent industrial accidents.

Former lawmaker Yoo Seung-min. Photo by Dongju Yoon doso7@

On the 12th, Yoo introduced an accident that occurred at a cement factory in Gongju, Chungnam, on social media (SNS), saying, "The same accidents keep repeating," and pointed out that "simultaneous work is the fundamental problem." He criticized, "Because work is carried out simultaneously on site, dangerous situations keep occurring."

Yoo pointed out, "The recent accident involving the late Lee Seon-ho at Pyeongtaek Port also happened because container work and wing folding occurred simultaneously, and the 2018 accident involving the late Kim Yong-gyun happened because ‘slag removal work’ at a thermal power plant occurred simultaneously with the ‘conveyor belt operation.’" He continued, "The accident in 2013 at a certain steel company caused by argon gas leakage that resulted in five casualties, as well as most welding ignition fire accidents at construction sites, were all caused by simultaneous work."

Yoo introduced, "During the last presidential election, I promised to ‘ban simultaneous work at industrial sites to eliminate chronic industrial accidents,’ and after the election, I proposed a bill to amend the Industrial Safety and Health Act to ban simultaneous work under the responsibility of the primary contractor."

He said, "Only after entering the 21st National Assembly was a law amendment recently made to obligate primary contractors to ‘adjust work timing and content’ when there is a risk of fire, explosion, or other dangers as prescribed by presidential decree due to mixed work, but it has not yet been implemented," and added, "I will definitely create a country that bans dangerous simultaneous work to prevent fatalities at industrial sites."

Meanwhile, Yoo registered as a preliminary candidate for next year’s presidential election at the Central Election Commission on the same day.