Jeju traffic flagger killed after being struck by SUV while directing traffic

【Financial News | Jeju = Reporter Jeong Yong-bok】 A worker in their 40s who was directing traffic during roadside landscaping work in Jeju was struck by an SUV and died.
According to the Jeju Western Police Station and the Jeju Special Self-Governing Province Fire Safety Headquarters, a report was received on the 1st that at around 10:06 a.m. on October 30, a man in his 40s, identified as A, who was working as a flagger at a landscaping site, had been struck by an SUV on a road near Saebyeol Oreum in Aewol-eup, Jeju City.
A was found to have been directing vehicle traffic at the roadside landscaping site at the time of the accident. He was seriously injured and taken to hospital by responding 119 paramedics, but ultimately died.
Police have booked and are questioning B, a woman in her 30s who was driving the SUV, on suspicion of violating the Act on Special Cases concerning the Settlement of Traffic Accidents (causing death). B was confirmed not to have been under the influence of alcohol at the time of the accident. The exact circumstances of the collision and whether the driver was at fault are under investigation.
One aspect of this accident that warrants scrutiny is the safety management system at sites where vehicle traffic and roadwork take place at the same time. A flagger’s role is to direct the flow of traffic, but measures suited to site conditions—such as advance warnings, traffic control and separating the work area—are needed to ensure workers’ own safety.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s “Traffic Management Guidelines for Road Construction Sites” set out standards requiring roadwork sites to be divided into advance warning, buffer and work zones, among others, and to install traffic control facilities to ensure the safety of drivers and workers.
Recently, a series of accidents in Jeju have claimed the lives of workers on the job. Earlier, on October 23, a freight transport worker in his 40s died in a forklift overturning accident at a livestock barn in Gujwa-eup, Jeju City. Police are investigating whether the transport company the worker belonged to was negligent in the course of its work.
On June 19, a worker in their 20s was crushed by a forklift and killed in the underground parking lot of Hagwi Nonghyup Hanaro Mart in Aewol-eup, Jeju City. In connection with the case, police referred five work-safety managers and supervisors to the Prosecution Service on October 30 on suspicion of occupational negligence causing death. Labor authorities are also investigating possible violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.
The circumstances of each accident and the parties responsible differ. However, as workers continue to lose their lives on the job, the need to review the protective measures for personnel assigned to hazardous work and the state of safety management at workplaces is being raised.


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