Employment Minister: "Emergency Inspection for Fire and Explosion Prevention in SMEs to be Conducted Next Month"

"Employment and Labor Crisis Response TF Meeting Held on the 23rd
"Investigating Cause of Accident... Strict Measures to Be Taken if Violations Are Found""

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] Lee Jae-gap, Minister of Employment and Labor, announced on the 23rd, "We will conduct an urgent inspection for fire and explosion prevention at small and medium-sized workplaces in December."

On the same day, Minister Lee held the 'Employment and Labor Crisis Response TF Countermeasure Meeting' at the Government Sejong Complex and stated, "Last week, an explosion and fire fatal accident occurred at a small manufacturing workplace." He was referring to the explosion accident at a cosmetics and disinfectant manufacturer located in Namdong Industrial Complex, Incheon, which resulted in 12 casualties on the 19th.

In response, Minister Lee said, "The government has formed an Industrial Accident Recovery Headquarters to thoroughly investigate the cause of the accident," and added, "If any legal violations are found, strict measures will be taken."

He further stated, "Based on the results of the accident cause investigation, we will conduct an urgent inspection for fire and explosion prevention at small and medium-sized workplaces with similar processes to the accident site in December."

Minister Lee also expressed his determination to create a 'labor-respecting society,' starting with protecting workers' rights to work safely. He emphasized, "Fundamentally, we will focus all our capabilities to ensure that workers' lives and safety are prioritized at the workplace."

He added, "To prevent accidents at construction sites, which account for half of industrial accident fatalities, we will thoroughly inspect and manage by maximizing the use of available human and material resources."

[Image source=Yonhap News]

First, the proportion of construction sites among supervised workplaces will be expanded, and patrols using patrol cars will be increased in areas densely populated with small construction sites.

The construction site information system will be advanced to monitor the progress of high-risk tasks such as exterior wall installation, and timely inspections and supervision will be conducted based on this information.

Regarding the response to the spread of the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), he stated, "We will strengthen guidance and inspections to ensure compliance with quarantine rules at vulnerable workplaces."

Minister Lee urged, "Workplaces should autonomously re-examine quarantine rules strictly to prevent the spread of infection within the workplace and actively utilize flexible work systems such as staggered working hours and telecommuting."

He continued, "For workplaces subject to gathering bans or restriction orders under strengthened quarantine measures, we will ease the requirements for the payment of employment retention subsidies to support employment stability."

Finally, Minister Lee said, "From this week, discussions on bills in the regular National Assembly session are expected to intensify," and added, "We will support in-depth discussions on livelihood legislation including the application of employment insurance for special types of workers, ratification of ILO conventions, and legislation related to flexible working hours."

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