'The safety of railway workers is railway safety itself'

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Hwang Hee [provided by the lawmaker's office]
Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Hwang Hee [provided by the lawmaker's office]

One in three people killed or injured in railway accidents last year was a worker hurt on the job, new data shows.

Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Hwang Hee, who represents Seoul's Yangcheon-gap district and sits on the National Assembly's Land and Transportation Committee, said Tuesday that an analysis of data obtained from Korea Railroad Corporation (Korail) found that total railway accident casualties in 2025 numbered 27. Of those, nine — or 33.3 percent — were workers injured while on duty at railway sites.

The figures underscore the need to reassess on-site safety systems, given that accidents involving railway workers tend to result in disproportionately severe casualties.

Looking at the figures by year, workers accounted for seven of 32 total casualties in 2021 (21.9 percent), nine of 59 in 2022 (15.3 percent), two of 23 in 2023 (8.7 percent), and four of 26 in 2024 (15.4 percent). The 33.3 percent recorded last year is the highest share in the past five and a half years.

Over that same period, accidents involving workers made up 24 of 241 total railway accidents, or 10 percent. Yet the casualties from those incidents — 33 out of 175 total, or 18.9 percent — were far higher than the share of accidents would suggest. Of the 33, 11 died and 22 were injured.

The disparity becomes even clearer when measured per incident. Worker-related accidents averaged 1.38 casualties each, roughly 1.9 times the overall railway accident average of 0.73.

The casualties were not limited to Korail employees. Of the 33 workers killed or injured over the past five and a half years, 17 were Korail staff and 16 were employed by outside contractors. Particularly striking was last year's breakdown: eight of the nine worker casualties were contractor employees.

The types of accidents varied widely. Some involved contact with trains, freight cars or work equipment during shunting, vehicle marshaling, or track inspection and maintenance. Others included electrocution during overhead wire work, falls, and entrapment injuries.

"The safety of railway field workers is railway safety itself," Hwang said. "We must look after the safety of everyone working at railway sites — not just Korail employees, but contractor workers as well."


bigroot@heraldcorp.com