The news of that day has passed, but its meaning remains with us today. "Today's That Day" reads the present through the records of the past.
July 9, 2023. A man in his 40s who drove while still intoxicated and crashed into a cleaning company vehicle, causing a leg amputation injury to a sanitation worker collecting household waste, was sentenced to prison.
At the time, presiding judge Park Hyun-jin of the Wonju branch of the Chuncheon District Court's Criminal Division 2 sentenced the man, identified as A, in his 40s, to two years in prison. A had been indicted and detained on charges of violating the Act on the Aggravated Punishment of Specific Crimes (dangerous driving causing injury) and violating the Road Traffic Act (drunk driving).
At around 6:20 a.m. on March 15, 2023, A drove a passenger car on a road in Taejang-dong, Wonju, with a blood alcohol concentration of 0.084% while still intoxicated from the night before. He was indicted on charges of crashing into the rear of a 5.8-ton compactor garbage truck that was collecting and compacting waste, injuring three employees of an environmental services company.
In the accident, B, then 34, who had boarded the footboard at the rear of the vehicle to collect waste, was directly struck by A's car and suffered a serious injury resulting in the amputation of his right foot.
Why They Climb the "Footboard of Death"
Judge Park stated, "The defendant has at least five prior offenses of the same kind, and his efforts to compensate for the damage have not been sufficient." He added, "However, it is difficult to deny that the dangerous work method, in which two victims were riding on the footboard at the rear of the waste collection vehicle, also served as one cause in expanding the damage," and said, "The sentence was determined by comprehensively considering various circumstances, including the fact that the defendant drove while still intoxicated."
As the court pointed out, the act of sanitation workers hanging onto the footboard is a "dangerous work method." Because related accidents never cease, the rear footboard of cleaning vehicles is also called the "footboard of death." The Ministry of Employment and Labor's "Work Safety Guide for Household Waste Collection and Transport" clearly states that "riding on the rear footboard or in the cargo bed while in transit is prohibited," yet some sanitation workers, still burdened with excessive work, continue to climb onto the footboards at great risk.
◇ Recurring Sanitation Worker Safety Accidents = A similar accident occurred on July 24, 2023, less than a month after this ruling. At around 10:30 p.m. that night, a man in his 40s who was driving after drinking on a road in the Guro Digital Complex attempted to make a left turn and crashed into a district office cleaning truck that was waiting. In this accident, C, a sanitation worker in his 60s who was hanging onto the footboard at the rear of the cleaning truck, was seriously injured and transported to a hospital.
Regarding this accident, the National Democratic General Workers' Union of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions argued that it was a foreseeable industrial accident. The union pointed out, "Work footboards are illegal, but sanitation workers are forced to ride the footboards to finish their heavy workloads," and "The priority is to eliminate the causes, such as the excessive labor that forces them to ride the footboards." In fact, according to a 2024 survey by the Public Solidarity Union, the majority of sanitation workers (58.7%) cited "excessive workload" as the cause of industrial accidents.
Nationwide, industrial accidents involving sanitation workers are increasing every year. By year, approved industrial accidents numbered 6,354 in 2020, 7,064 in 2021, 7,155 in 2022, and 8,100 in 2023, with 5,573 as of August 2024. The main cause of sanitation worker industrial accidents is known to be traffic accidents.
