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Information about Teaching in Korea | |
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Safety and Risk Management
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Your employer is meant to provide staff with 2 hours safety education a month and tell you about safety measure in the workplace. BUT we have never known this to happen, and I doubt whether any employer even realises it should happen. If you have any serious concerns about safety practices undertaken at your school, be sure to bring them to the director?s attention, and ask him to check for you. Most likely you will be greeted with a look of total confusion, as safety in the workplace is rather hard to find in Korea. The good news is that this is slowly changing. If your school is in an office building have a look around and check the evacuation exits etc. You will most likely find they are covered over or there is an abseiling like device (complete with rope attached) that you are supposed to throw out the window and climb down!!! These devices still exist in most buildings and attach to the side of a window. At any time in Korea whether you are in your workplace or in a nightclub or underground at Namdaemun markets, take the time to ask look around for the emergency exit. You most likely will be rather horrified with what you see is available (or not available).
After witnessing several of these accidents I managed to convince the Korean staff it was a good idea to put ice on the injury rather than just a wet piece of toilet paper! Most staff has no idea of any of the signs for concussion and I have witnessed a good few sleepy children in my classrooms that could have indeed been suffering from accident concussion. The comment ?you will be alright? along with a reassuring hug when the crying stops can sometimes end the monitoring of a child's condition.
Safety glass is often not used, and it is a scary moment when you first see children balancing on windowsills 10 floors above ground or fighting and being stupid around large glass areas they could crash though. You may give many prevention warnings to these children, but in most cases you will impart no feeling of worry into the students. It is simply atmosphere of ?what will be will be??
Travelling will certainly be a crowded experience, thus making the avoidance of being in contact with people (and the infections they might have), rather impossible. Put all this into perspective and you could have a breeding ground in your own classroom for any infectious bugs your students (or you) bring into the school. Please take all possible measures to have air circulation around you and to not have your classroom closed with static airflow. Many Koreans think that brushing their teeth frequently will stop them getting germs as well as giving them a clean appearance. So it is very likely that you will notice the staff and the students undertaking ?teeth cleaning times? during the day.
The children will be bringing their own dinner dishes and utensils to school each day and it might be a good idea to bring your own coffee cup and utensils and be responsible for their own cleaning rather than use cups you see in the school kitchen. The sharing of drinking cups and glasses is very common so think carefully about the transmission of germs when offered a drink by someone.
Starting March 10th officials from the municipal government and private experts will spend a month combing through 19 department stores, 46 discount stores and 347 markets to check electricity, gas and other facilities and evaluate how prepared they are to cope with disasters such as fires. The city's move is part of a nationwide campaign to bolster safety measures and minimize the damage of disasters like the Daegu subway fire. For full documentation on these new safety measures: http://www.seoulnow.net/SITE/data/html_dir/2003/03/04/200303040001.php. Corrective measures will be taken immediately in cases where safety rules have been violated. Checks will be also implemented at 248 other potential danger zones, including large lodging facilities, hospitals, express bus terminals and performance halls from March 6 until April 15, city officials said. They said safety measures would be augmented at 30 underground shopping malls in the capital. Exit signs and emergency illuminators will be installed or repaired to prepare for possible breakouts of fire, they said. In particular, the city will crack down at places where objects have been piled up and are blocking emergency exit stairs.
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