“Same cold snap, different responses… ‘work stoppages’ vary by contractor [Investigative series – While you were asleep]”, 17 December 2025

“In 25 years, I’ve only stopped work once because of the weather.”

Hong Seok-hwan (58), a sanitation worker employed by a private contractor in Ansan, Gyeonggi Province, recalls the day of the first snowfall last year in these terms. Overnight, snow piled up so heavily that refuse trucks could no longer operate. In the Ansan area, more than 30 centimetres of heavy snowfall fell over two days from 27 November last year. It was the heaviest wet snow recorded in 117 years. For Hong, it was impossible even to travel from home to the worksite. He later received notice that on-site work would be suspended.

However, the day was recorded as annual leave for Hong. Only a few sanitation workers who managed to reach the office were classified as being off work due to weather conditions, while Hong—who could not even leave his home—had his annual leave deducted.

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The operational guidelines for household waste collection and transportation in Ansan City state that “in the event of severe weather, a request for work suspension may be made.” This provision is based on the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which guarantees workers the right to stop work when there is an imminent danger. While the law and guidelines clearly recognise the right to stop work, they do not specify when, by whose judgement, or through what procedures this right should be applied on the ground. As a result, responsibility for any disadvantages arising from stopping work falls not on the system or organisation, but on individual workers.

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In September, the late Kim Dong-cheol, a sanitation worker who was crushed to death between a reversing refuse truck and a utility pole, was employed by a private waste collection contractor in Gangseo District, Seoul. Among the five contractors operating in the district, including this company, one failed to record either a work-stoppage plan or whether such measures had been implemented.

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Ultimately, responsibility for monitoring and controlling whether private contractors are properly fulfilling their duty to protect sanitation workers’ safety rests with local governments.