AIRPORT WORKERS EXPOSED TO ACCIDENTS

[Anchor Lead]

Workers at the Incheon Airport cargo terminal are complaining that they are exposed to risks of accidents. It is because covers of trucks’ cargo sections are sometimes opened to hit parking checkout booths. Their union is demanding speed bumps be installed to prevent such accidents. However, the airport corporation is rejecting the request.

[Pkg]

A truck, with part of its cargo section covering exposed, rams into a checkout booth. Because it is a temporary metal structure, the whole booth rocks seriously.

[Soundbite] (Checkout cashier) : "The booth is not fixed, so it can easily flip over or shake profusely when a truck bumps into it."

Last year, a checkout cashier was struck by electricity after a truck bumped into the booth and could not return to work due to post traumatic stress disorder. At the airport cargo terminal, eight similar accidents caused by misplaced truck coverings have occurred this year. Checkout area staffers point out that it is because trucks don’t speed down at the checkout point.

[Soundbite] Checkout cashier(VOICE MODIFIED) : "Parking is free for 45 minutes at the cargo terminal. So they drive fast to leave within that time limit."

Their union demanded the airport corporation install speed bumps at the checkout area. But the company just introduced painted versions that resemble speed bumps on the road, saying real speed bumps will damage fragile products vulnerable to shocks and vibrations. The union insists that the company’s explanation makes no sense, since there are some areas inside the terminal where speed bumps were already installed.

[Soundbite] Yoo Sang-joon(Incheon Airport branch of public transportation workers’ union) : "People's safety must come first. It is unacceptable that speed bumps are not installed to protect cargo, when the safety of the employees is at risk."

The airport corporation said it is discussing installing speed bumps with related parties and introduce other safety measures, including installing more reflectors near the checkout booths.