workers and the convenience of movement617) have been proposed and are under
deliberation. However, the Ministry of Employment and Labor is of the opinion that if the
toilet installation is uniformly decided by the number of floors, there are concerns over the
cost of installing and maintaining the sewage treatment facilities and risk of safety accidents;
therefore, measures could be taken by amending the enforcement rules that establish the
detailed standards for each facility type.618)
On the other hand, through follow-up reports by the media, attention was drawn to the
poor toilet and rest conditions of workers performing other duties.619) Some of the examples
are: case of railroad or subway train engineers working in a car without a toilet, and it is not
easy to move to a nearby car or station during a short stop; case in which a duty-free
salesperson is instructed not to use the customer restroom in front of the store, but to use a
separate staff restroom located at a distance; and a case in which a call center agent has to
press the ‘personal reasons’ button on the computer to indicate that he/she is away when
going to the bathroom, and if he/she does this frequently, it will be reflected in the
evaluation.
In particular, female workers face greater difficulties. According to the KCTU’s
‘Research on the Use of Toilets in Workplaces of Female Workers and Their Impact on
Health (2021),’ there were difficulties in accessing and using toilets in various aspects, such
as the working environment, labor intensity, culture, and awareness, and it has been shown
to affect the health of the workers.
B) Toilet Use as an Issue Showing the Poor Working Conditions and Discrimination
Facilities, such as toilets, locker rooms, rest rooms, and shower rooms, are essential to
ensuring safe and hygienic working conditions, depending on the industry or regardless of
the industry. The toilet problem of construction workers, which received a lot of social
617) Co-sponsored by 13 representatives, including Rep. Park, Dae-su, Bill No. 2118177, Nov. 9, 2022.
618) In 2023, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced a legislative amendment to the Enforcement Rules of
the Act on the Improvement of Employment of Construction Workers, which added the standard for the number of
workers to the toilet installation standards at construction sites.
619) Kyunghyang Shinmun, City with Transparent Walls ③ Looking for a toilet... Status of workplace toilets, without
water or walls, Oct. 14, 2022.
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