Labor, Management, and Government Agree on "Measures to Prevent Death from Overwork"... Changing Laws and Systems and Increasing Budget

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] Labor, management, and the government have reached their first-ever agreement on a comprehensive plan to prevent death from overwork. They agreed on the necessity of introducing safety measures and improving laws and systems to prevent death from overwork, and decided to conduct a fact-finding survey.

The Industrial Safety and Health Committee under the Economic, Social and Labor Council held a press briefing on the 27th at the Gyeongsanowi main conference room and announced the "Tripartite Agreement for the Safety and Health of Working People."

The tripartite parties agreed to address blind spots in safety and health, such as platform labor, by ▲ conducting a fact-finding survey on hazardous risk factors in the service sector ▲ expanding budget and personnel support for small and medium-sized enterprises ▲ forming a tripartite and expert participation task force (TF) for related law and system improvements and establishing an administrative enforcement system.

First, the tripartite parties agreed to review the extension of the application period for the "tax credit for investment in industrial accident prevention facilities" to induce safety investments in small and medium-sized enterprises with high industrial accident risks, and to expand the scope of facilities eligible for the tax credit.

They also agreed to increase the government budget used for industrial accident prevention in small and medium-sized enterprises every year. To implement the "expansion of general accounting support for industrial accident prevention project expenses (targeting 3% of the total industrial accident fund expenditure budget)" agreed upon in 2006 and 2008, they agreed to expand the scale of general accounting support for the industrial accident fund annually.

The tripartite parties shared the view that system reform must accompany the prevention of industrial accidents. In the short term, they agreed to establish a recruitment, training, and career management system for industrial safety and health professionals, and in the mid to long term, to promote various system reforms.

This agreement is significant as the first tripartite agreement on the issue of death from overwork, recognizing that long working hours are a hazardous risk factor threatening workers' health and lives. By forming a tripartite task force (TF) team for a fact-finding survey on death from overwork, a supplementary measure was also prepared to ensure that this agreement does not remain a one-time declaration.

Jeon Hyung-bae, acting chairman of the committee, said, "Death from overwork and health damage caused by long working hours is a national issue that can no longer be neglected," and added, "I hope this tripartite agreement will lead to the preparation of a comprehensive government-level plan and active follow-up legislative discussions in the National Assembly."

Moon Sung-hyun, chairman of Gyeongsanowi, said, "On the occasion of the 'World Day for Remembrance of Workers Killed in Industrial Accidents,' I am honored to publicly share the tripartite agreement derived by the committee," and added, "I am confident this will be an important opportunity for our country to shed the stigma of being an industrial accident republic."

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.