Gwangju International Center

GIC Talk Review

SPEAKER: Kang Hyun

WRITERS: Juyeon Lee and Ashlyn Winter

DATE: July 4, 2015

GIC TALK TITLE: Safety and Health in our Lives and Workplaces

Kang Hyun, who works for KOSHA (Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency), presented information about health and safety in our workplaces. He taught us about having a culture of safety in our city also by showing us how important safety is and what can happen if safety rules and regulations are not followed.

For example, Mr. Kang mentioned the collapse of the Sampung Department store, which collapsed due to frequent illegal changing of plans without proper approvals.

Mr. Kang also expressed how the importance of safety in a country should be advocated and compared such circumstances to life in the U.S.A. to Korea. In Korea, the country's rules of safety and health are enforced in different ways in comparison to what happens in America.

Mr. Kang thus added that "safety is a concept." He showed the negative implications of not following safety laws. We should not want to learn safety by accident, as we need to know rules so that we can avoid accidents. When accidents occur, families experience losses and sadness, companies have a decline in production and sales and the companies’ image can be ruined.

Accidents occur due to unsafe behavior and unsafe conditions, but such behavior can be resolved through reeducation and informing people in more appealing ways.

Safety is not just simply considering and following health and safety laws. Safety demands action, requiring us to ensure that we and others can work and live in an environment safely.