[Exclusive] Even a Single Accident Can Be Severe... Minimal Support for Smart Safety Equipment in Agriculture and Fisheries

Lee Byungjin of the Democratic Party
"Support for Safety Equipment Must Be Greatly Expanded"

Despite the increasing trend of industrial accidents in the agriculture and fisheries sectors, insufficient support for smart safety equipment is putting field workers' safety at risk, according to concerns raised in the National Assembly.

Lee Byungjin, member of the Democratic Party of Korea. Provided by Lee's office

On September 19, Assemblyman Lee Byungjin of the Democratic Party of Korea exclusively obtained and analyzed data on applications and support status for the "Smart Safety Equipment Support Project" submitted by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency. The analysis showed that the number of industrial accident victims in the agriculture and fisheries sectors has steadily increased over the past three years.

In particular, the number of accident victims in the fisheries sector surged by 62% in just the past year. In 2023, there were 706 agricultural accident victims and 37 fisheries accident victims; last year, these numbers rose to 741 (up 5%) and 60 (up 62%), respectively.

Since 2023, the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency has been supporting "smart safety equipment" for small and medium-sized businesses to prevent industrial accidents. Smart safety equipment refers to safety and health devices that utilize new technologies such as artificial intelligence, robotics, information and communications, and the Internet of Things to prevent accidents. When comparing the support status for smart safety equipment in the agricultural sector to all industrial sites, there were only 46 cases (4.1%) in 2023 and 135 cases (5.1%) last year. The amount of support provided was also only 1.8-5.5% of the total for all industrial sites.

Moreover, since the introduction of the smart safety equipment support project in 2023, the accident rate in general industrial sites decreased by 0.37 percentage points, whereas the rate in the agricultural sector actually increased by 0.26 percentage points. Industrial accidents in agriculture and fisheries are particularly concerning because the use of heavy machinery in these fields often leads to major accidents, such as amputations or fatalities, when incidents occur.

Assemblyman Lee stated, "Due to the high number of foreign workers in agriculture and fisheries, many are not enrolled in industrial accident insurance, effectively excluding them from eligibility for smart safety equipment support. As a result, the actual scale of industrial accident victims is likely much higher than the statistics suggest." He emphasized, "Support for smart safety equipment in agriculture must be significantly expanded to reflect the unique characteristics of the field."