Special education instructor, industrial accident blind spot...Mandatory safety management

[Anchor]
Special education instructors play a role in closely supporting the overall life from daily life to school so that children with disabilities can receive education safely.

It is pointed out that they are often injured as they have to physically accompany children, but there is a lack of institutional safeguards.

Reporter Kim Yi-young's report.

[Reporter]
Im Jin-ah, in her 50s, has been taking care of children at a special school in Ulsan for nearly 20 years.

It supports most activities for children's school life, including movement, meals, and toilet treatment, as well as class assistance.

I've worked for a long time, but it's still not easy to cope with children's unexpected behavior.

[Im Jin-ah / 19 years of special education instructor: Our children have 5 to 12 students in one class, and we are assigned the most difficult children. Because children's behavior ranges are unpredictable and they often fall and get hurt in such situations....]

About 10 years ago, a student who was walking hurt his back while preventing him from falling down.

After doing similar things repeatedly for a long time, I had a strain on both sides of my shoulder and recently had surgery.

[Im Jin-ah / 19 years special education instructor: I had a rotator cuff rupture due to a lot of shoulder strain in the process of sitting on the toilet and lifting it up. (Shoulder) has been approved by applying for industrial accident and treatment has just been completed.]

A, who has been doing the same job for 13 years, also tore his leg cartilage while taking charge of a kindergarten class at a special school about two years ago.

He was hurt when he lost his balance while standing up to take his child to the bathroom.

[Mr. A / 13 years of special education instructor] He was a child with a disability with no clear boundaries.. I'm still limping around with my legs uncomfortable like a limp.]

In fact, the number of industrial accidents by special education leaders nearly quadrupled in four years.

It is pointed out that the number of grievances is increasing because there is a lot of work to treat students with their bodies, but the protection system is still poor.

It is pointed out that the problem is that the Occupational Safety and Health Act is not fully applied.

It's not that you don't get recognized for industrial accidents, but the accident prevention education or management and supervision system has limitations, not obligations.

It is a demand for institutional support to prepare guidelines and educate leaders so that they do not strain their bodies or get hurt while taking care of children.

In some cases, safety education is provided by provincial and provincial offices of education, but it should be supplemented as it is not enough, but in the end, there are voices that say it is a necessary measure for children's safe school life.

[Kang Deuk-gu / Democratic Party of Korea National Assembly member: Let's make sure that special education support personnel under the Occupational Safety and Health Act, including the revision of the notice, are included, so that related education and related manuals and institutional conditions are in place....]

The Ministry of Employment and Labor said it excluded the application of some regulations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act because it judged that the risk of special education instructors' work was low, but said it will consider whether to revise it according to the results of the study.

I'm YTN's Kim Lee Young.

Reporter for shooting
: Kim Jung-won

Design: Kim Jin-ho Jeon Whee-rin Im Saetbyul