Significant Strengthening of 'Operator Obligations' in High-Risk Industrial Sites

Ministry of Interior and Safety, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Employment and Labor Announce Top 10 Improvement Tasks Reflecting Cause Investigation Results from Relevant Ministries
Strengthening Obligations of Principal Employers for On-Site Work Coordination... Also Enhancing Legal Basis for Industrial Site Fire Investigations

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Ministry of the Interior and Safety announced on the 20th that it has formed a disaster cause investigation team consisting of related agencies and private experts to prevent the recent frequent explosion and fire accidents in industrial sites such as manufacturing, and has prepared 10 improvement tasks through cause investigations of representative accident cases.

According to the Ministry of the Interior and Safety, from 2015 to 2019, there were 214 deaths caused by explosion and fire accidents at industrial sites over the past five years, averaging 43 deaths annually, raising calls for systematic cause identification to establish measures to prevent recurrence of similar accidents. The investigation team selected six representative cases by type, including manufacturing plants, gas filling stations, steel mills, and power generation facilities, which had large-scale damage among recent explosion and fire accidents, and visited the accident sites to conduct interviews with related personnel for cause analysis.

This investigation involved related agencies such as the Ministry of Employment and Labor, Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy, Ministry of Environment, and National Fire Agency, as well as private experts, who deeply discussed the opinions presented by each other and then prepared improvement tasks. As an improvement task, the government plans to impose an obligation on the contracting business owner to pre-check the content and timing of on-site work by related subcontractors and others, and if there is a risk that hazardous work may be conducted in the same space, to adjust the work schedule in advance.

The legal basis for fire investigations at industrial sites will be strengthened, and safety management of high-pressure gas inspection agencies will also be enhanced. The Ministry of the Interior and Safety stated that as industrial structures become more advanced and various fire-causing substances are used, the existing fire investigation system has limitations in accurately identifying causes, so it will establish a legal basis for fire investigations by the National Fire Agency with enhanced expertise. Additionally, since the risk of accidents such as fire, explosion, and suffocation is high during the opening inspection process of various gas tanks, to strengthen management of inspection history, the target for real-time transmission of inspection results to the Korea Gas Safety Corporation's computer system will be expanded.

Safety standards for hydrogen and high-pressure gases will be established, and facility standards will also be strengthened. The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy has enacted the "Act on the Promotion of the Hydrogen Economy and Safety Management" and subordinate laws to activate the hydrogen economy and strengthen hydrogen safety management, and plans to prepare detailed safety standards for fuel cells and hydrogen production facilities before the enforcement date of the Hydrogen Act in February next year.

In addition, to systematically manage the modification history of boilers subject to inspection, a 'modification status' item will be added to the inspection application form, and the 'affiliated company name' will be entered in the report of the manager of the equipment subject to inspection appointed by the company to enhance safety management responsibility. Improvement orders will be promoted for inadequate facilities under the Chemical Substances Control Act, and safety equipment investments will be strengthened to reinforce coal power generation facilities and safety devices.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor will strengthen on-site verification of Standard Operating Procedures (SOP) and encourage various activities such as distributing casebooks, attaching safety signs, and chanting safety slogans to raise safety awareness at sites to prevent similar accidents. A smart band system for worker risk recognition will be developed and pilot distributed.

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety plans to check and manage the implementation status of the improvement measures derived by each agency in the first and second half of the year to ensure they are applied in the field, and to strengthen the execution of improvement tasks through the "National Disaster Investigation Information Management System."

Lee Seung-woo, Director of the Disaster Cooperation Office, said, "This cause investigation is significant in that it has prepared measures to prevent worker damage such as improvements in laws and systems by sector, strengthening safety management by industry, and reinforcing safety devices and equipment for explosion and fire accidents at industrial sites," and added, "For this, it is important for workers to cooperate in preventing safety accidents by complying with safety rules, checking Standard Operating Procedures, and participating in safety education."

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