Kim Hyun-gi(52-year old), a horse groomer with 29 years' experience in the racecourse, recently died of lung cancer. It was the second case since a horse groomer died of lung cancer in 2012. Kim was not diagnosed with lung cancer in the medical check-up conducted by the Seoul Racecourse Trainers Association(SRTA), but belatedly confirmed with lung cancer and passed away only 9 monts after the confirmation of diagnosis. His co-workers lamented that "he could have been treated, if lung cancer had been detected earlier." They called on the Seoul Racecourse Trainers Association and the Korea Racing Authority(KRA) to improve the working conditions and set up a systematic medical check-up including a chest computed tomography(CT) scan.
According to the Federation of Korean Trade Unions(FKTU) and the Korea Racecourse Trainers' Labor Union on December 17, Kim Hyun-gi died of lung cancer on December 14, after he was diagnosed of lung cancer in March this year. In May this year, soon after his diagnosis of lung cancer, Kim made an application for medical care benefits with the Anyang branch of the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service (KCOMWEL). The approval has yet to come at the time of reporting.
It was the second case that a horse groomer died of lung cancer since 2012. Of 7 horse groomers with the diagnosis of lung cancer including Kim, 5 were recognized as the cases of work-related disease. An officer of the KCOMWEL Anyang branch said that "the Occupational Lung Disease Research Institute is currently under the process of an epidemiological investigation in relation to the application for medical care benefits made by Kim, but I am not quite sure how long it would take for the approval of the application."
Since a horse groomer surnamed Lee died of lung cancer in 2012, social concerns were raised about the working condition of horse groomers. Kim Kwang-il, director of the FKTU Occupational Safety and Health Research Institute, said that "the correlation between the working conditions of horse groomer and lung cancer has been proven significantly." "When a horse groomer in the racecourse in Jeju was diagnosed with lung cancer in 2014, the KCOMWEL Occupational Lung Disease Research Institute verified its correlation through the epidemiological investigation."
According to the study outcome of the Occupational Lung Disease Research Institute, they found cilica(quartz), a category 1 cancer-causing agent classified by the WHO's International Agency for Research on Cancer(IARC), in the indoor sand riding ground for training horses.
Shin dong-won, the head of the horse trainers' labor union said that "the horse training is taking place at the indoor ground filled with sand and the pressure by the galloping horses weighs about 4 tons." He also expressed his concern that "since the indoor ventilation is poor and the horse groomers are long exposed to silica dust caused by the broken sand crushed by the galloping horses, they are apt to be diagnosed with lung cancer."
Since Lee died of lung cancer in 2012, the Ministry of Employment and Labor(MOEL) conducted a special labor inspection in the racecourses and made a recommendation to improve the working conditions. The horse trainers' labor union, the racecourse trainers association and the Korea Racing Authority formed an industrial accident prevention measures committee in the equine industry in March 2014. The sprinkler system was installed at the indoor racing ground and dust protective masks were provided to the horse groomers, as part of the improvement of working conditions. However, the problem remains in the health of horse groomers with long career service like Kim who died recently.
reported by Lee Eun-young
translated by Kim Sung-jin