The vast and dark shadow cast over labor sites by the "outsourcing of danger" is terrifying. This can be seen in the data presented at this year's parliamentary inspection. Among the workers killed or injured in safety-related accidents at the five subsidiaries of Korea Electric Power Corporation (KEPCO) in the past four years (271 workers), 97.7% (265) of the cases occurred to employees of partner companies and only 2.3% (6) involved regular employees of the subsidiaries. Employees of partner companies were 44 times more likely to be exposed to accidents than the regular employees of the subsidiaries. In the past six years, 84.4% of the deaths from industrial accidents (116) in the shipbuilding industry occurred to employees of subcontractors. Statistics also showed that 40% (229) of the recent deaths from industrial accidents at KORAIL (583) involved a worker engaging in outsourced operations. Workers performing such outsourced labor and employees of partner firms put their lives on the line every day.

On October 12, a worker in his forties fell to his death while installing an elevator in Pyeongtaek, Gyeonggi-do. He was an employee of a subcontractor for ThyssenKrupp Elevator, the elevator manufacturer. Five workers of ThyssenKrupp subcontractors have died while installing elevators since March 2018. The warnings continued and the accident could have been prevented if the company had implemented proper measures. On October 11, the day before the accident, Democratic Party of Korea lawmaker Han Jeoung-ae summoned the head of ThyssenKrupp to the parliamentary inspection and asked for details concerning the series of industrial accidents as well as the company's response. However, another accident occurred. This calls for special measures against ThyssenKrupp.

Like ThyssenKrupp, on average, there are over five fatal industrial accidents involving workers installing elevators every year. The industry blames the workers' lax attitude toward safety for the accidents, but the real cause lies in an expedient subcontracting system. ThyssenKrupp won the latest elevator installation project in a joint-supply method with a local small and medium-sized enterprise (SME). But the company actually outsourced the elevator installation process to partner firms. It was to reduce the cost of operations and avoid hazards. However, companies hire subcontractors in such an expedient way to avoid responsibilities and obligations. The labor ministry needs to particularly supervise ThyssenKrupp, a “company of death.” In addition, the National Assembly needs to promptly pass the bill on the punishment of corporations for serious industrial accidents, allowing the state to punish corporate owners when serious industrial accidents take place. The state will not be able to prevent the death of subcontractor employees, if the subcontractor is held responsible for industrial accidents.