South Korea’s industrial deaths per 10,000 workers increased for the first time in nine years in 2013, the labor ministry said Wednesday.
The number stood at 1.25 last year, up 0.05 percentage point from the previous year, the first on-year rise since 2004, the ministry said.
The death rate had been on a steady decline from 2.47 in 2004 to 1.91 in 2006 to 1.59 in 2008 to 1.36 in 2010 to 1.20 in 2012.
Of the 1,929 workers who died last year from work-related accidents or diseases, the largest share of 29.39 percent were construction workers, closely followed by employees of manufacturing firms with 23.85 percent.
But the rate of occupational disasters per 100 workers remained unchanged with 0.59 percent last year as 91,824 out of about 15.45 million workers at some 1.98 workplaces subscribed to the state pension system for industrial disasters suffered injuries requiring more than four days of treatment, according to the ministry.
Direct or indirect economic loss arising from the industrial disasters was estimated at 18.97 trillion won (US$17.16 billion) last year, down 1.45 percent from 2012. (Yonhap)
