Delivery riders, couriers get heat-relief shelters in Chuncheon

Delivery riders, parcel couriers and designated-driver service workers who must brave scorching heat will soon have a place to rest in Chuncheon.

Two locations in the city — the customer rest area at a traditional market and the Dongbaek rest area at Pungmul Market — will serve as heat-relief shelters for mobile workers from June 30 through early September.

According to Chuncheon city officials, the shelters are designed to give mobile workers who spend long hours outdoors a place to escape the heat and recover. Each space is equipped with air conditioning, a refrigerator and a lounge area for workers to use freely.

Alongside operating the shelters, the city plans to distribute heat-safety guidelines to delivery platform companies and mobile workers, and to run a field-focused labor safety campaign.

This year, the Pungmul Market Merchants' Association, led by President Shin Dong-cheon, proposed adding the Dongbaek rest area to the program. The addition of a shelter with better road access, on top of the existing traditional market customer rest area, is expected to make the facilities more convenient for mobile workers.

The involvement of local merchant groups has added significance to the initiative. The Chuncheon Business Operators' Association is supporting the traditional market customer rest area, while the Pungmul Market Merchants' Association is contributing to the Dongbaek shelter — a model of community cooperation between the public and private sectors.

Seong Gi-mun, head of the city's business support division, said the shelters were established through public-private cooperation because mobile workers face increasingly harsh conditions as heat waves become more frequent due to climate change.