Labor Ministry safety guide for manhole work

The Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency said Thursday it will distribute a manhole-work safety guide to 224 local governments and public institutions to prevent suffocation and fall accidents at publicly commissioned water and sewage manhole worksites.

Five people died last July in water and sewage manholes in Incheon and Seoul, while six were injured in sewage manholes in North Jeolla Province and Incheon on June 12. Confined-space suffocation accidents at manholes, wastewater-treatment facilities and livestock barns rise sharply from May each year and recur throughout the summer, the ministry said.

Manhole accidents frequently occur at sites commissioned by local governments and local public corporations, prompting continued calls for effective public-sector measures. Workers can lose consciousness from oxygen depletion or hazardous gases and fall after climbing down ladders. They can also miss a step, fall to the bottom and inhale hazardous gases, while colleagues may enter without safeguards to rescue a collapsed worker and suffer a secondary accident.

The Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency said the guide sets out safe work methods from preparation through completion. It covers measuring oxygen and hazardous-gas concentrations, ventilation and the use of supplied-air masks, and recommends rescue tripods to prevent falls during entry and exit and enable rescue from outside a manhole in an emergency.

Since July 31, 2025, the ministry has required local governments to verify safety measures before all manhole work they commission or order.

Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency President Kim Hyun-jung said, "The manhole-work safety guide will be applied not only across the public sector but at all manhole worksites, contributing to the elimination of deaths from suffocation."