An ice box filled with cold water sits at a housing redevelopment project site in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, on Wednesday, when a severe heat wave alert was in effect. [Yonhap]
An ice box filled with cold water sits at a housing redevelopment project site in Michuhol-gu, Incheon, on Wednesday, when a severe heat wave alert was in effect. [Yonhap]

The Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association will distribute bottled water and cooling supplies to more than 700 small and midsize construction sites nationwide to protect workers laboring through record-breaking heat.

The association announced Monday it would launch its "outreach rest support" program for the summer heat season to help create safer working conditions for construction workers.

The initiative was designed to protect workers' health and prevent heat-related illness amid the prolonged heat wave. The association plans to supply bottled water, neck coolers and other ready-to-use heat-relief items to more than 700 small and midsize sites across the country.

The extended heat wave has raised the risk of heat-related illness at construction sites, where outdoor work accounts for a large share of activity. The program focuses on smaller sites that tend to have fewer resources to cope with extreme heat.

Sites can apply through the association's online application page on its "Geonseol-ol" platform; the association will review submissions against eligibility criteria to select recipients. The application period runs from Aug. 7 through Aug. 13. Selected sites will receive heat-prevention supplies in phases.

The association said it expects the program to provide meaningful, on-the-ground support for workers' health and safety by delivering supplies that can be put to immediate use at job sites.

"Protecting the lives and health of construction workers is a value above all others," association Chairman Jang Geon said. "Heat-related illness from extreme heat can be reduced through adequate prevention and preparation, and I hope this support proves genuinely helpful to the workers on site." He added that the association would continue to do its utmost to build an environment where construction workers can work more safely and in better health.


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