A sanitation worker cleans streets in the early morning hours. [Newsis]
A sanitation worker cleans streets in the early morning hours. [Newsis]

Safety accidents involving sanitation workers — who often work alone in the early morning hours when streets are largely deserted — continue to mount, with 400 work-related deaths recognized as industrial accidents over the past five and a half years, prompting calls for urgent action.

According to data that People Power Party lawmaker Kim Wi-sang obtained from the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service, 400 sanitation workers were recognized as having died from industrial accidents between 2021 and the first half of this year (January–June), the Dong-A Ilbo reported Tuesday.

Of those deaths, 63.3 percent — 253 workers — were caused by safety accidents such as traffic collisions and falls, including 160 who died in on-duty accidents and 93 in commuting accidents. The remaining 147 were recognized as having died from occupational illness.

Observers note that sanitation workers, who frequently work alone during off-peak hours, are in effect left defenseless against traffic accidents and crime. In March, a sanitation worker in his 40s was struck and killed by a drunk driver while cleaning a pedestrian path in the early morning in Dongnae-gu, Busan.

Kim Tae-jun, 36, a 12-year veteran sanitation worker, was the victim of a hit-and-run in 2024 while working alone on a road in Yuseong-gu, Daejeon. He was returning to the driver's seat after collecting garbage from between illegally parked vehicles near a restaurant district when a car struck him and fled the scene.

Current enforcement rules under the Waste Management Act require sanitation crews to work in teams of three — including a driver — and to carry out work during daylight hours when visibility is adequate. However, exceptions may be granted under local government ordinances when waste must be handled urgently or when delays would cause significant inconvenience to residents. Seoul's Jongno-gu, for instance, allows crews operating vehicles with a load capacity of 1.5 metric tons or less to work without the three-person requirement.

According to the Ministry of Climate, Environment and Energy, 198 of the country's 228 basic local governments — 87 percent — failed to comply with the three-person crew rule as of 2024. The widespread abuse of exception clauses by individual municipalities has allowed solo work and night shifts to become routine.

"Even accounting for the particular nature of early-morning road work, the industrial accident death rate that has come to light is extremely high," Kim said. "The structural neglect that has shifted risk onto workers must end, and the government and local authorities must put forward fundamental safety measures."


husn7@heraldcorp.com