'Don't walk while staring at your phone': KOTRA runs safety week for staff and partners

Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA) is running an industrial accident prevention program that extends beyond its own employees to include workers at partner companies. The initiative aims to build lasting safety habits around everyday behaviors — from workplace safety rules and pedestrian safety during the morning commute to information security.

KOTRA announced Tuesday that it is holding a five-day industrial accident prevention week titled "Everyday Safe Living" from Monday through Friday.

The event features industrial accident prevention training and mental health lectures, as well as a contest inviting participants to use AI to design safety-behavior stickers and slogans. KOTRA also expanded the program's reach beyond its own staff to cover workers at partner companies.

On Tuesday, the agency held its "Safety Management 3-UP Campaign" during the morning commute, aimed at raising awareness of safety consciousness, information security and sustainability.

The event included a hands-on experience zone where participants could feel firsthand the dangers of being a "smombie" — a portmanteau of "smartphone" and "zombie" referring to people who walk while staring at their phones without paying attention to their surroundings.

Participants also took part in a safety and health quiz competition, ESG-related quizzes, a true-or-false quiz on responding to phishing emails, and personal data protection activities. The program addresses not only physical accident prevention but also security risks that can arise in the course of daily work.

KOTRA is also accepting AI-powered safety ideas, asking employees to propose slogans and stickers that encourage safe behavior based on hazards they have identified in their actual work or daily lives. The move broadens the program's scope from a training-focused format to a participatory one.

"Safety is a culture that all members build together," KOTRA President Kang Kyung-sung said. "We will continue to strengthen on-site safety management so that both our employees and partner company workers can practice safety in their everyday lives."