South Korea checks heatwave risks at worksites

South Korea is checking heat risks at airport aprons with little shade, farms employing foreign seasonal workers and livestock barns with ventilation and cooling equipment. At the same time, the government is asking the public and shops to trim wasteful power use rather than limit cooling as demand is expected to rise.

The Ministry of Interior and Safety raised the heatwave disaster alert to its "severe" level. Of 2,441 heat-related illnesses reported from May 15 to Aug. 4, 625, or 25.6 percent, occurred at outdoor workplaces, according to the Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency.

At Gimpo Airport, Employment and Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon made an unannounced inspection of ground-handling work. Runway-surface temperature had recently exceeded 50 degrees Celsius, and the stands offer little shade and add radiant heat. Under the ministry's rules, outdoor work other than operations essential to aviation safety must stop at an apparent temperature of 35 degrees Celsius; at 38, only emergency work may continue.

Workers were receiving water and cooling gear, and some air-conditioned rest areas were operating, but scattered work zones, distant rooms and limited capacity made pauses difficult during concentrated aircraft arrivals and departures. Talks on additional facilities had stalled over sites, cost and maintenance responsibilities. After the visit, the Korea Airports Corporation agreed to support sites and infrastructure, while airlines and ground-handling companies will share costs. "It is not enough for rest facilities simply to exist," Kim said. They must be close enough for workers to stop work and lower body temperature.

Kim Kwang-yong of the Ministry of Interior and Safety visited foreign seasonal workers in Yesan, South Chungcheong Province, after recent deaths of foreign workers who were working in heat in Haenam and Hongseong. The ministry delivered heat-illness prevention guides in 18 native languages and cooling supplies, then inspected ventilation and cooling equipment at a pig farm.

Expecting demand to rise as industrial operations recover after the holiday period, the Ministry of Climate, Energy and Environment will run a conservation campaign from Aug. 10 to 23 at major shopping areas. It says cooling a shop with its door open requires an estimated 1.7 times more electricity. Park Deok-yeol said the drive would focus on "a culture of rational energy consumption," rather than restricting cooling.