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A flight attendant who died from stomach cancer after working on airplanes for more than 20 years, working more than 1,000 hours a year, was recognized as an industrial accident.
It was determined that exposure to space radiation could affect the development of cancer.
Although hematologic cancers and other causes have been recognized as industrial accidents for flight attendants, this is the first time that solid cancers such as stomach cancer have been recognized as industrial accidents.
Reporter Lim Hyun-joo reports.
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Mr. Song joined Korean Air in 1995 and worked as a cabin crew member.
During my 25 years of service, half of the time I traveled on the Americas-Europe route.
The average annual flight time is 1,022 hours.
Mr. Song was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer in April 2021, and died just 20 days later.
He was 53 years old and the head of a household with two children in middle and high school.
The bereaved family requested that the accident be recognized as an industrial accident, saying, “I developed cancer due to exposure to space radiation.”
The issue was whether the cumulative amount of space radiation exposure exceeded the standard.
By regulation, crews cannot exceed 6 millisieverts (mSv) per year.
However, in the case of the Americas-Europe route that uses the Arctic route to shorten time and save fuel, it is known that exposure to space radiation increases by up to five times.
Korean Air claimed, “We have organized our flight schedules to ensure that the accumulated radiation dose to our crew does not exceed safety standards,” and that “the correlation between stomach cancer and space radiation has also not been revealed.”
However, the Korea Workers’ Compensation and Welfare Service did not accept this claim.
“Considering the possibility that the radiation dose was underestimated and the fact that he had an irregular diet due to a long-distance flight, it was judged that a causal relationship between cancer and work was recognized.”
[류현아 노무사]
″I think that these cases will serve as an opportunity to establish preventive measures for the health of workers and aviation-related workers.″
So far, space radiation damage has been limited to blood cancers such as leukemia, but Mr. Song is the first to acknowledge space radiation damage to solid cancers.
Korean Air said, “We are providing health counseling and necessary medical care to our flight attendants,” and “We will do our best to manage the health of our employees by strengthening pre- and post-management of space radiation.”
This is Lim Hyun-joo from MBC News.
Video Editing: Jinwoo Kim
2023-11-06 11:21:21
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