① Stomach Cancer Caused by Cosmic Radiation Recognized as Industrial Accident
A Korean Air flight attendant who worked in the cabin for 26 years and died from stomach cancer has been recognized as a victim of an industrial accident due to exposure to cosmic radiation. According to the Korea Workers’ Compensation & Welfare Service, on the 6th, the Seoul Southern Occupational Disease Judgment Committee recognized the stomach cancer of the late Mr. Song, who worked as a cabin crew member at Korean Air, as an occupational accident. This is the first time that stomach cancer caused by cosmic radiation has been recognized as an industrial accident.
The deceased was diagnosed with stage 4 stomach cancer on April 16, 2021, and died at the age of 53 on May 8 of the same year.
The family revealed that they had been conducting a retrial for over two years after being disapproved in the first application for an industrial accident.
During the review process, the amount of exposure, work content, and correlation with the disease of the deceased were issues.
Mr. Song flew an average of 1,022 hours per year from 1995 to 2021. About half of these were long flights to the Americas and Europe.
On these routes, cosmic radiation’s effect increases more than five times when passing through the polar route due to the lack of atmosphere.
Cosmic radiation is radiation that comes from outer space outside the atmosphere, and it is known that the amount of exposure is high when flying at high altitudes or on polar routes. It does not significantly impact daily life, but it affects flight attendants who frequently fly.
The amount of exposure increases when staying at high altitudes for a long time, as in an airplane. Crew members are inevitably exposed to cosmic radiation. The main impact on the plane is from galactic cosmic radiation in the form of particles with tremendous energy. It is known that 95% of the exposure is due to galactic cosmic radiation.
In Korea, many long-distance flight routes to the Americas or Europe pass through the polar route to shorten the flight time. Because the atmosphere that can block cosmic radiation is sparse in the polar region, it is known that the effect of cosmic radiation on the body increases more than five times.
② Korean Air’s Position on the Death of the Crew
Concerning this, Korean Air claimed that the cumulative radiation exposure of the crew did not exceed the safety standard of 6mSv (millisieverts) per year. They added that the correlation between the applicant’s disease and cosmic radiation has not been revealed. However, the committee judged that the cumulative radiation exposure of Korean Air flight attendants could have been underestimated. It was stated that the causal relationship between the disease and the job is recognized because they had irregular lives due to work.
According to the “Regulations on Cosmic Radiation Safety Management for Flight Attendants” prepared by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, and Transport, the radiation exposure of flight attendants should not exceed 50mSv in annual cumulative, 100mSv in 5 years. The Ministry strengthened the standards to 6mSv per year in May 2021. The radiation exposure limit for pregnant flight attendants has been lowered from 2mSv or less to 1mSv or less.
According to the “Report on the Status of Radiation Safety Management Around Life” by the Nuclear Safety Commission, the maximum exposure dose of flight attendants for five years from 2017 to 2021 is an average of 5.42mSv. This is more than five times the dose limit of 1mSv for the general public.
The government regulates that the flight route or frequency should be adjusted if a flight attendant is exposed to more than 6mSv per year. Korean Air announced in July 2021 that if the annual exposure amount approaches the allowable standard, the system will automatically assign to a short-distance route or a route other than the polar route. They conveyed that they would embark on systematic management of cosmic radiation.
The working environment of the flight attendants is inevitably exposed to cosmic radiation. Still, many criticisms have been that management is neglected as related regulations are divided among the Nuclear Safety Commission and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure, Transport, etc. After a Korean Air flight attendant applied for leukemia in an industrial accident in 2018, the need for system improvement was raised in the National Assembly. In 2021, the Nuclear Safety Commission agreed to unify cosmic radiation safety management.
In June of last year, the Radiation Protection Act, which contains contents to strengthen the safety management of cosmic radiation, was revised in the National Assembly.
③ Exposure Up to 5 Times Compared to Other Companies
The annual cosmic radiation exposure dose of Korean Air flight attendants was found to be up to five times higher than that of flight attendants of major domestic airlines. According to the national audit data submitted to Congressman Park Jae-ho of the National Assembly Land, Infrastructure, and Transport Committee in 2018, the average annual cosmic radiation exposure dose of flight and cabin crew members of Korean Air from 2014 to 2017 was 2.150mSv (millisieverts) and 2.828mSv, respectively.
The cosmic radiation exposure dose of Korean Air flight attendants is 4-5 times higher than that of Air Busan flight attendants. It was higher than the average annual cosmic radiation exposure dose of Asiana Airlines flight and cabin crew (1.623mSv and 1.869mSv, respectively). It was confirmed to be about twice as high as the average exposure dose of all seven international air carriers (1.165mSv for flight crew and 1.358mSv for cabin crew).
Korean Air explained, “We calculate the cumulative radiation dose of the last 12 months for each crew member every month and post it on the company’s employee information site.”
By. Seo Sung Min
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