Kim Yong-tae, the People Power Party emergency measures chairperson, said on the 3rd in regard to the incident at Taean Thermal Power Plant in Chungnam Taean County where worker Kim Chung-hyun died in an accident during work, "We must eliminate safety blind spots."
Chairperson Kim, after visiting the site of the death accident and the funeral hall at Taean Thermal Power Plant in Chungnam Taean County that day, said on Facebook, "I cannot contain my sorrow at the fact that a fatal entrapment accident occurred again with a second-tier subcontractor worker working alone at the exact place where the unfortunate accident of Kim Yong-gyun happened in 2018."
Kim emphasized, "To prevent such tragedies, the principle of 'two-person team' should be strengthened in dangerous workspaces, and safety blind spots must be eliminated."
He noted, "It is said that the maintenance work of Taean Thermal Power Plant is being carried out through a method where the first-tier subcontractor, KEPCO KPS, subcontracts to multiple second-tier subcontractors. This multi-stage subcontracting structure inevitably causes instability in the labor environment, and results in significant loopholes in wage inequality and safety management systems."
Chairperson Kim stated, "The People Power Party will make all efforts to prepare fundamental measures for power plant safety management, including centralizing (employment) to first-tier subcontractors if direct employment from the main contractor is realistically difficult, to prevent the recurrence of such tragic accidents."