Songpa-gu holds safety training for 200 workers at children's facilities

Seoul's Songpa-gu district held a safety training session for more than 200 workers at local children's facilities on Monday, the district office announced Thursday.

Under the Children's Safety Management Act, workers at facilities primarily serving children under 13 — including daycare centers and hagwon — must complete at least four hours of safety training annually, including hands-on first-aid practice. The Ministry of Interior and Safety and the Korea Child Care Promotion Institute jointly oversee the program. The district is conducting an intensive month-long training push targeting about 1,000 workers at children's facilities across Songpa-gu.

This year's curriculum moves away from rote classroom instruction and focuses on practical, on-site application. Sessions cover emergency response procedures, key medical and surgical first-aid theory, cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) for infants and children, automated external defibrillator (AED) operation, and hands-on practice of the Heimlich maneuver — all designed to ensure workers can act within the critical window when an emergency or accident occurs.

New this year, the district plans to add virtual reality simulations of emergency scenarios to deepen participants' immersion and sharpen their response skills.

The more than 200 childcare and education workers who attended Monday's session actively engaged with the material, practicing chest compressions on CPR mannequins and working through the Heimlich maneuver and other emergency response techniques hands-on.

The district will continue the training to ensure every worker at a children's facility in Songpa-gu completes the required course. Three additional sessions are scheduled — on Aug. 24, Aug. 31 and Sept. 10.

Details and registration are available through the e-learning portal of the Central Child Care Support Center, operated by the Korea Institute of Child Care and Education.

"Children are easily exposed to unexpected accidents of all sizes, which makes the ability of frontline workers to respond quickly more important than anything else," Songpa-gu Mayor Seo Gang-seok said. "We will continue to build a tight social safety net through systematic safety training and on-site inspections, creating an environment where children can take part in activities with peace of mind."

Songpa-gu has operated the country's first comprehensive safety experience and education center since 2001. The facility was established to honor the memory of 19 kindergartners from the district who died in a fire at the Sealand Youth Camp in Hwaseong, Gyeonggi Province, on June 30, 1999, and to promote forward-looking safety education not only for children but also for parents and teachers.