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In the wake of a blaze in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province that claimed 40 lives, it was discovered that the basement floor of the warehouse where the fire broke out had no ventilation. Gyeonggi provincial firefighting authorities said they found the warehouse had no ventilation or mobile ventilating fans. ¡°In light of this, we presume that workers must have worked disregarding safety rules in a room filled with volatile gases." Investigators have pointed out that it is higly likely that the fire broke out when workers sparked the flame in the process of welding in the machine room, which came in contact with the oil vapors that filled the room.
The disaster raised concerns about the poor working environments for foreign workers, especially ethnic Koreans from China. Paik Soo-bin, a Chinese language lecturer at Hanseo University who lost her cousin in the fire, said, "Korean-Chinese workers are doing all dangerous jobs. We're treated as compatriots only in words, but we're looked down upon in reality. How can you do this to us? They should have provided the workers with minimum safety equipment."
The Rev. Kim Hae-sung, president of the non-profit Migrant Workers Center that is helping find compensation for the victims, said, "Since last year when the government introduced a new work permit system for foreigners, alien workers have been doing almost all 'three D' (dangerous, dirty and difficult) jobs. The latest disaster reflects the reality facing foreign workers in dangerous working conditions." Of the victims, 17 were foreign workers -- 15 Korean-Chinese and two Uzbeks. Fourteen of them were killed in the explosion and the three others, two Korean-Chinese and one Uzbek, seriously injured.
Compensations for the victims will also be difficult to find. The entire building was insured against damage for W15.3 billion (US$1=W941) at LIG Insurance. The problem is, this insurance only applies to the building and goods stored in the warehouse but not the victims. An LIG Insurance official said, "As they were not insured, humans are not subject to compensations. We'll pay compensation in due process for the destroyed building and damaged machinery and equipment inside it."
Whether victims can get compensation depends on whether subcontractors bought any separate insurance or whether each of the victims subscribed to a separate insurance policy. A spokesman for Korea 2000, the builder of the cold storage warehouse, said, "We've been holding meetings to cope with this disaster. We'll take appropriate measures if there is anything we can do."
The victims can at least benefit from the industrial accident compensation insurance, which any employer of more than one employee is obliged to subscribe to. An official with the Korea Labor Welfare Corporation said, "As Korea 2000 is a subscriber to this insurance, temporary workers employed by subcontractors will have no problem getting insurance payouts if their employment is proved. Korean-Chinese, be they legal or illegal aliens, can benefit from this insurance too."
The surviving families of the dead can receive either lump-sum payments of 1,300 days' wages for the dead or monthly annuities of 52 to 67 percent of the average monthly pay of the deceased. The injured will get 70 percent of their daily average wage in allowance while in treatment, and can also get disability compensation depending on the degree of disability.
(englishnews@chosun.com )
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