[Anchor]

Amidst a scorching heatwave where sweat pours effortlessly, there are workers laboring in front of an even more intense heat.

Reporter Jeong Jiyeon met with the workers guarding their workplaces while fully suited in protective workwear covering their entire bodies.

[Reporter]

This is a resource and environment center that burns 360 tons of household waste every day to produce heat for district heating and electrical energy.

Due to the heat from incinerators exceeding 850 degrees Celsius (1562 degrees Fahrenheit), the internal temperature of the workplace reaches up to 57 degrees Celsius (135 degrees Fahrenheit), and the surface temperature of pipes marked with "High Temperature Warning" rises to around 70 degrees Celsius (158 degrees Fahrenheit).

To inspect the facilities, workers must wear dust-proof suits like this.

After walking around in one for about an hour, my entire face was soaked with sweat.

In winter, workers could take off their dust-proof suits and temporarily leave the workplace to cool down, but during a heatwave like this summer's, going outside is also a ordeal.

The use of cooling devices is restricted to prevent condensation from forming water droplets that obstruct vision.

Even the first basement floor, known as the coolest spot in the workplace, exceeds 36 degrees Celsius (97 degrees Fahrenheit).

[Kim Min-yeon / Manager, Incineration Facility Operation Team: This is the coolest place. At the site. Upstairs is really hot, so even if you wear a cooling vest, hot wind blows in....]

The surface temperature of welding workbenches where sparks fly exceeds well over 100 degrees Celsius (212 degrees Fahrenheit).

Although the air conditioner is turned on, sweat quickly beads up on the welder's forehead.

The inside of this open workplace exceeded 38 degrees Celsius (100 degrees Fahrenheit).

Combined with the heat from welding, the workers feel an even more extreme level of heat.

Having to always wear long-sleeved clothes makes it even harder in the summer.

[Kim Young-guk / CEO, Metal Processing Products Manufacturer: We have to wear thick clothes because of the welding light. Otherwise, the welding light penetrates into the body and causes burns all over.]

While the government supports cooling devices such as portable air conditioners for vulnerable heatwave facilities like welding workshops, this summer's heatwave feels hotter to them than to anyone else.

(Video by Choi Dae-woong and Lee Sang-hak | Video Editing by Kim Yoon-sung | Design by Han Heung-su)