Following the death of a man in his 20s working for a management office who collapsed while showering in the machine room of an apartment building in Incheon last month, a labor group has stepped forward to demand a thorough investigation.

The Incheon headquarters' task force on serious industrial accidents under the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions (KCTU) issued a statement on the 14th, explaining, "This apartment outsourced its housing management duties to a property management company. In such cases, the residents' representative council is excluded from safety and health responsibility relationships, leaving the management company to bear responsibility as the business owner or outsourcing contractor."

The group continued, "Amid the disappearance of safety and health responsibilities, apartment facility maintenance workers had no choice but to wash themselves at the risk of electric shock," and claimed, "Due to Occupational Safety and Health Act regulations that limit the obligation to install washing facilities primarily to the handling of toxic chemicals, workers' right to wash is not being guaranteed."

It was found that a showerhead was installed among mechanical equipment such as boilers and electric motors in the basement machine room of the apartment where the accident occurred.

On one side of the machine room, there was also a notice that read, "Please use water after checking for electrical leakage."

In response, the serious disaster response task force issued a statement urging the city of Incheon to conduct a comprehensive inspection of multi-family housing and guarantee safe washing, sleeping, and resting facilities.

Previously, at around 10:37 a.m. on the 23rd of last month, a man in his 20s surnamed A, an employee at the apartment management office, died while taking a shower in the shower facility located inside the basement machine room of an apartment building in Okryeon-dong, Yeonsu-gu.

Police recently received a preliminary verbal opinion from the National Forensic Service estimating that A died from an electric shock, and are investigating the specific circumstances based on this.

Following the accident, police conducted preliminary measurements to secure safety at the scene, and actual electrical leakage phenomena were reportedly detected.

A police official stated, "Preliminary measurements showed some electrical leakage responses," adding, "We are awaiting the inspection results from the Korea Electric Power Corporation to determine the exact location and pathway of the electricity leakage."

(Photo: Yonhap News)