◀ anchor ▶
The late Kim Daun, an employee of a KEPCO subcontractor who died alone on a power pole carrying a 22,000 volt extra-high voltage current.
As a result of the MBC coverage, it was confirmed by the photos he left that it wasn’t the first time Kim had climbed a power pole and worked on a pole alone.
Correspondent Lim-chan Lim covered the report.
◀ Report ▶
An SNS chat room between the late Mr. Daun Kim and his girlfriend.
When Mr. Down sends a picture of his feet hanging from a rope and standing on a power pole, he replies that his girlfriend looks scared.
Most of the pictures I took during the work were pictures of Mr. Down hanging on a power pole alone.
The rule of ‘work in a team of two’ was rarely followed.
[유족]
“I climbed the work alone and rode a pole… I told him that Daun was very difficult while he was alive, and he said that he was going to get into a lot of trouble.”
KEPCO’s safety regulations require that a ‘live train’ be used to prevent electric shock, but only one photo of the live train was left.
“There was no vehicle to send to the site because all the live trains were in use.”
On the day of Mr. Down’s death, no live train was assigned.
However, KEPCO said, “The principle is to work with live trains,” and they made the safety regulations properly, but the subcontractors are in violation.
Moreover, they claim, “They did not outsource the risks because they are the ‘ordering parties’ who do not manage the work.”
[한국전력 관계자]
“KEPCO is an ‘order’ because of the fact that KEPCO gave work that was not in the business area of KEPCO. It is not ‘outsourced’.”
According to the current law, if the ‘ordering party’ entrusts the work and does not participate at all until the completion of the work, there will be no punishment for the death of the worker.
On the other hand, ‘primary contractors’ who manage the work directly after entrusting them with subcontractors are subject to up to 7 years in prison or a fine of 100 million won.
For this reason, KEPCO claims that they are the ‘ordering party’, not the ‘primary contractor’.
In fact, in May 2019, when a subcontractor worker in his 30s fell from a power pole in Inje, Gangwon Province, and died, KEPCO evaded responsibility with the same logic.
However, the Ministry of Employment and Labor, which is investigating this case, believes that KEPCO has a typical ‘primary contract’ character.
[고용노동부 관계자]
“I see KEPCO as a contractor, and (KEPCO) took the lead and managed it, so that’s why we are investigating that part now.”
This is because we have effectively managed the entire task, from approving the start of a task to receiving a report at the end.
In the past five years, 23 KEPCO subcontractor workers have died while working.
[고 김다운 씨 동료]
“A lot of my colleagues and older brothers and sisters died. Nothing really changes.”
This is Lim Chan Im from MBC News.
Video coverage: Kang Jae-hoon / Video editing: Jo Ara
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