Enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act Next Year: "Headquarters to Supervise in Case of Serious Accidents"

Ministry of Employment and Labor Announces '2021 Industrial Safety and Health Supervision Comprehensive Plan'
Strengthening Supervision of Three Key Safety Measures: Falls, Entrapment, and Protective Equipment Usage

At the site of a fire at a logistics warehouse construction site in Icheon-si, Gyeonggi-do, where a large-scale human casualty occurred, police, fire authorities, and National Forensic Service officials conducted a joint inspection on the morning of April 30 last year. (Image source=Yonhap News)

[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Ahead of the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act next year, the government is strengthening the responsibility of headquarters and primary contractors. To prevent the 'outsourcing of risk,' supervision by the headquarters will be conducted simultaneously in the event of a serious accident.

On the 9th, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced this year's comprehensive plan for industrial safety and health supervision, which includes these measures.

From now on, if a serious accident occurs at a construction site, strict action will be taken on violations linked to supervision by the headquarters.

If serious accidents occur repeatedly, the headquarters and more than 60% of nationwide construction sites under the jurisdiction of the headquarters will be supervised simultaneously.

For construction companies that experienced serious accidents for two consecutive years from 2019 to 2020, even a single accident this year will result in concurrent supervision of the headquarters and nationwide sites.

In manufacturing sites, supervision will be conducted to check whether sufficient safety measures were taken for in-house subcontracted workers. Compliance with protective measures under the Industrial Safety and Health Act's 'Safety and Health Regulations' will be examined.

For workplaces handling hazardous and dangerous substances, approval of subcontracting for hazardous substance handling work and compliance with safety and health management plans will be verified and supervised.

Inspection and supervision will continue until the 'three major measures' are thoroughly implemented at construction and manufacturing sites. The three major measures are prevention of falls and entrapment, and mandatory use of personal protective equipment.

As of 2019, construction and manufacturing accounted for 74.7% of all accidents, and falls and entrapment accidents accounted for 48.3% last year.

Supervision systems will be strengthened for construction sites under 5 billion KRW and manufacturing businesses with fewer than 50 employees possessing hazardous machinery (such as cranes and conveyors).

The Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency will conduct patrols (unannounced inspections), local governments will perform first inspections, and local labor offices will conduct second inspections. If violations are not corrected thereafter, judicial action will be taken as a third step.

For construction sites between 5 billion and 12 billion KRW and businesses with 50 or more employees possessing hazardous machinery, if legal violations are found during the first inspection by local labor offices, a second inspection will be conducted within two months to check for improvements. Judicial action will be taken if no improvements are made.

Additionally, measures such as preventing large-scale accidents like fires and explosions at industrial sites, close supervision of high-risk industries and factors by region, and guidance for companies to establish safety and health management systems will be implemented.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor stated, "The government will do its best to ensure that industrial safety and health inspections and supervision lead to a definite reduction in fatal accidents."

Source: Ministry of Employment and Labor

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