Caution on anti-freezing substance at the construction work sites

KOSHA provides three guidelines for the accidents that occur frequently in winter

President Hun-ki Baek of KOSHA released the three guidelines for preventing workers from drinking anti-freezing substance by mistake, widely used at construction worksites especially in winter.

Over the past year 24 died of the anti-freezing substance poisoning of which all cases occurred during winter, January, November and December.

KOSHA urged caution last November and January on the accidents and distributed warning stickers at construction work sites. Now the agency releases the prevention guidelines and strengthens prevention activities as the accidents do not wind down.

The three guidelines by KOSHA are: not using water for making concrete paste as drinking water; putting warning stickers on the bottle that contains anti-freezing substance; providing drinking water in a designated place and separating it from toxic materials with certain marks on it.

※ The anti-freezing substance, a chemical material, is used to prevent concrete treated in construction work sites from freezing. The substance is a liquid without smell and color which make it difficult to distinguish it from drinking water. As such some workers have low awareness on its hazardousness, ending up with drinking it which is usually contained in plastic bottles as water is.

Under such a circumstance, KOSHA decided to add some color to the substance, together with 9 manufacturers of the dangerous material last year, and is thinking of combining bitter taste with it this year.

In addition, materials for training workers to prevent such accidents would be provided when KOSHA delivers its technical assistance at the construction worksites. Also, the agency would ask training organizations for the construction worksite to include content related with anti-freezing substance, in their training sessions.

A person from KOSHA said “Drinking water contains anti-freezing substance could lead to dyspnea, even killing you sometimes.” encouraging OSH managers at the construction worksite to pay more attention to prevent the accidents.