A survey found that 52 people were diagnosed with lung cancer among school meal workers. Initially, in the Ministry of Education investigation in March, there were 31 cases, but 21 additional cases were confirmed, nearly twice the number of confirmed cases than previously announced by the Ministry of Education.
Kang Deuk-goo, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, and the National Education and Public Service Headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions and Public Transport Workers’ Union held a press conference at the Communication Hall of the National Assembly on the 8th and announced these contents. According to the ‘Lung Cancer Screening Results for School Food Service Workers’, a total of 52 food service workers nationwide were diagnosed with lung cancer, and 379 were found to be at the suspected or highly suspected stage of lung cancer.
Initially, the Ministry of Education announced on March 14 that 31 school lunch workers were diagnosed with lung cancer. At the time, three of the 17 offices of education, including Seoul, Gyeonggi, and Chungbuk, were excluded from the announcement because they had a large number of food service workers and a limited budget. stretched close
Moreover, unlike the announcement of the Ministry of Education, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, 94 cases of industrial accident approval for lung cancer among catering workers have so far reached. This is different from the Ministry of Education’s examination result of 52 people. This is the reason why it is pointed out that the Ministry of Education checkup did not sufficiently reflect the number of people who had already left the cafeteria due to lung cancer and industrial accidents.
Points were also raised about the environment in which catering workers work. This year, as a result of inspections of school cafeteria ventilation facilities by each provincial office of education, the ratio of schools that did not meet the ventilation facility standards compared to the number of schools inspected reached 97%, indicating that most of the cafeterias need to improve ventilation facilities.
It was pointed out that the school cafeteria ventilation facility improvement project to improve this environment still has a serious difference in implementation by region and is insufficient in many parts. According to data released by Congressman Deuk-gu Kang’s office, the national average of the budget for improving ventilation facilities in 2023 per school is less than 40 million won. Regional differences were also significant. The highest budget allocation per school was about 330 million won, and the lowest was less than about 6 million won.
Kim Mi-gyeong, chairman of the Labor Safety Committee of the Public Transport Workers’ Union’s National Education and Public Service Headquarters, said, “The seriousness of the school lunch workers’ working environment is being objectively confirmed day by day.” I asked back. “I urge the education authorities to properly face the growing numbers of victims,” she said.
Rep. Kang Deuk-gu said, “Even though additional data (confirmation of lung cancer) has come out, the Ministry of Education cannot help but doubt whether the announcement was delayed out of fear of criticism from the school cafeteria site.” The speed of project promotion should be increased, but improvement projects should be carried out in line with facility standards without regional differences.”
▲ Kang Deuk-gu, a member of the Democratic Party of Korea, and the National Education Service Headquarters of the Korean Confederation of Public Transport Workers Union held a press conference at the National Assembly building in Yeongdeungpo-gu, Seoul on the 8th to “announce the results of lung cancer screening for school caterers and urge the education authorities to prepare countermeasures.” ⓒPublic Transport Workers Union
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