The government said Thursday that it would improve labor standards for migrant workers and enhance efforts to prevent workplace accidents, after the nation’s human rights watchdog urged it to do more for their safety and labor rights.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to lay out new guidelines on the living conditions of migrant workers, as many live in lodging facilities provided by their employer, after an inspection of some of the living quarters. It also plans to revise a relevant act to guarantee them overtime pay, sick leave and paid holidays. 

“We will conduct an inspection on migrant workers’ lodging conditions and working conditions in the construction sector first and expand it into other sectors and set out new guidelines, if necessary, next year,” an official from the ministry told The Korea Herald.

The National Human Rights Commission of Korea welcomed the decision. In June, it had asked the ministry to improve human rights protection for foreign workers exposed to poor working conditions and work accidents.

According to its report on foreign construction workers published in 2015, 16 percent had not signed a written contract, and even if they did, 36.8 percent were not provided a copy of the contract.

They worked 10.5 hours a day on average and 6.6 percent worked more than 12 hours, the report showed.

As for housing, some 33 percent lived in temporary housing and 17.6 percent lived in cheap motels or at saunas. Some 61 percent of the housing had no kitchen or cooking facilities, 7 percent of the residences did not have locks and 6 percent had no windows.

There has been criticism of the ministry’s existing guidelines, which were released in February. It allows employers to deduct up to 20 percent from foreign workers’ monthly wages in return for the lodging they offer, upon the workers’ consent.

“In reality, the guideline is being exploited. Many migrant workers live in lodging facilities their employers offered -- such as container boxes or vinyl green houses -- and have their income deducted,” said Park Jin-woo, an activist for Seoul-Gyeonggi-Incheon Migrants’ Trade, adding it is a priority to scrap the guideline first to improve living conditions for migrant workers.

“Many migrant workers work overtime and until late at night, but their working hours are not officially recorded (because there is no legal clause for that). So they end up not getting paid what they deserve,” said Park, who has given counselling to migrant workers living here.

The Labor Ministry also said it will tighten monitoring of whether employers gave foreign workers in the construction sector proper training on how to prevent accidents at work and expand education on their labor rights.

According to Labor Ministry data, 1,777 people died in work accidents in 2016 -- 31.2 percent of them on construction sites. The latest data showed some 4.9 million construction workers here in 2015, with foreign workers accounting for 8 percent of them.

Migrant workers appear to be more exposed to work-related accidents in the construction sector. Out of 88 foreign workers who suffered workplace accidents last year, 45.5 percent were working at construction sites.

A separate study on 337 foreign construction workers by IOM Migration Research & Training Center in 2015 showed that 67.9 percent of migrant workers injured on the job did not receive governmental industrial accident compensation.

“Foreign workers find it difficult to receive compensation due to lack of proper equipment and language barriers. Also, employers often try to cover up work accidents and migrant workers are more exposed to dangerous work,” Park said.

By Ock Hyun-ju (laeticia.ock@heraldcorp.com)