More Workers Suffering From Brain, Heart Diseases After Financial Crisis
A growing number of workers have experienced such occupational illnesses as brain and heart disease since the nation was battered by economic woes in late 1997.
Source : Korea Times
A growing number of workers have experienced such occupational illnesses as brain and heart disease since the nation was battered by economic woes in late 1997.
The Ministry of Labor said yesterday that the number of workers who suffered from cerebral and heart-related diseases as occupational illnesses last year numbered 628.
The figure represented a 44-percent jump from 436 workers in 1998. Only 348 laborers were stricken with brain and heart problems in 1997 while working.
The ministry said the total number of workers suffering from occupational diseases reached 1,521 in 1999, 1,288 in 1998 and 1,424 in 1997.
Despite a slight increase in the cases of occupational illnesses, the number of workers inflicted with heart and brain damage surged.
Cases of heart and cerebral illnesses accounted for 41.3 percent of total occupational diseases last year.
The percentage marked a sizable growth from 33.9 percent in 1998 and 24.1 percent in 1997.
``The rise was attributed to the fact that more workers have been forced to endure great pains arising from mass layoffs and drastic corporate restructuring since the 1997 crisis,'' a ministry official said.
He added that such occupational diseases as heart and brain illnesses climbed as a larger number of employees were under excessive psychological stress amid the economic woes.
The official said that the tangible rise in heart and brain illnesses was also partly due to the easing of standards on the definition of occupational diseases.
On the other hand, such traditional occupational diseases as contamination by heavy metals, hearing loss and lung illness declined as a percentage of total health damages in work sites over the last three years.
The ministry said that it would make efforts to help prevent workers from being victimized by occupational diseases, especially by brain and heart illnesses.
The ministry already revealed a plan to expand the coverage of the industrial accident insurance scheme.
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