[Exclusive] Half of This Year’s Heat-Related Occupational Accidents Occurred at Workplaces with Fewer Than 30 Employees... Three Fatalities Confirmed

Occupational Accident Claims Are Just the Tip of the Iceberg
Many Cases Remain Hidden Beyond Official Statistics

This year, about half of all occupational accidents caused by heat-related illnesses have occurred at small workplaces with fewer than 30 employees, and three fatal accidents have been confirmed.

According to data obtained by Assemblywoman Jeong Hyekyung of the Progressive Party from the Korea Workers’ Compensation & Welfare Service on October 18, there were 44 applications and 42 approvals for industrial accidents caused by heat-related illnesses (occupational disease codes: ‘heat stroke, heat exhaustion, burns, frostbite’; disease classification code: ‘heat stroke and heat exhaustion’) between January and August of this year.

By workplace size, small businesses with fewer than 30 employees accounted for 47.6% of the cases. There were 7 cases at workplaces with fewer than 5 employees, 13 cases at workplaces with 5 to 29 employees (including 3 fatalities), 5 cases at workplaces with 30 to 49 employees, 5 cases at workplaces with 50 to 99 employees, 4 cases at workplaces with 100 to 499 employees, 2 cases at workplaces with 500 to 999 employees, and 6 cases at workplaces with 1,000 or more employees.

By industry, the construction sector accounted for 17 cases, representing 40% of the total. This was followed by 14 cases in other businesses, 4 cases in the transportation, warehousing, and communications sector, 3 cases each in forestry and manufacturing, and 1 case in agriculture.

By location, 34 cases of heat-related occupational accidents occurred outdoors, which was overwhelmingly higher than indoors (7 cases) or at sites classified as both indoor and outdoor (1 case). By age group, there was 1 case among workers in their 20s, 3 cases in their 30s, 8 cases in their 40s, 15 cases in their 50s, 14 cases in their 60s, and 1 case in their 70s.

With the climate crisis worsening each year, occupational accidents caused by heat-related illnesses are on the rise. By year, there were 13 cases in 2020 (2 fatalities), 19 cases in 2021 (1 fatality), 23 cases in 2022 (5 fatalities), 31 cases in 2023 (4 fatalities), and 51 cases last year (2 fatalities).

Official statistics are likely to represent only a portion of actual heat-related occupational accidents. In order to be officially recognized as an industrial accident, the work-relatedness must be proven, but minor cases of exhaustion or dizziness occurring on site are rarely recorded. At small construction sites, even if a worker collapses, it is often treated as a personal illness, so the actual scale of damage is estimated to far exceed the reported figures.

Choi Myungki, a professor at the Korea Industrial Field Professors Association, said, "Foreign and temporary workers may not recognize symptoms of heat-related illnesses or find it difficult to have such cases recognized as occupational accidents, so the number of unreported cases could be five to ten times higher than the statistics suggest. Small and medium-sized enterprises, which lack sufficient on-site management personnel, are more vulnerable to heat-related illnesses. Therefore, the government should focus its support on improving safety systems at small and medium-sized enterprises rather than at large corporations."