Korea’s extreme heat puts construction workers, farmers at growing risk of illness, death

“Last July, a Vietnamese migrant worker in his 20s was found dead while working at an apartment construction site in Gumi, North Gyeongsang Province. His body temperature was measured at 40.2 degrees Celsius, while the city’s daytime high reached 38.3 degrees on the day he died. That same month, another worker in his 60s lost consciousness and died while organizing shopping carts in a shopping mall parking lot in Goyang, Gyeonggi Province. In both cases, their death was linked to extreme heat. Such grim cases could happen again this year, as forecasters warn of another unusually hot summer. For outdoor workers at construction sites and farmers in fields and paddies, who spend long hours under scorching sunlight, the risk of heat-related illness and even death is far from isolated. Heat-related illness is increasingly becoming an issue that requires actions from employers as well, such as guaranteed rest breaks, and also from the health and labor authorities. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency (KDCA) said Thursday it will begin its annual surveillance of emergency room pati

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