KCCI: "Serious Accident Punishment Act Should Follow UK Model... Prevention-Focused Administration Needed"

[Asia Economy Reporter Ki-min Lee] To effectively reduce industrial accidents, it has been pointed out that what is needed is not punishment-centered administration such as the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, but corporate self-regulation and securing the expertise of administrative organizations, as seen in the UK case.

The Korea Employers Federation (KEF) announced on the 24th the results and implications of the "Survey on the Administrative Operation System for Industrial Accident Prevention in the UK," arguing that our government should also respond effectively to workplace safety and health issues through prevention-centered administrative enforcement like the UK.

The UK is recognized as the world's leading advanced safety country by drastically lowering the fatal accident rate (the ratio of fatal accidents per 10,000 workers) through advanced legislation (Health and Safety Act) and preventive administration. As of 2019, the UK's fatal accident rate was 0.03, lower than other major countries such as the US (0.37) and Japan (0.14), while Korea's rate was 0.46.

KEF evaluated that the UK effectively prevents and responds to industrial accidents through ▲corporate autonomous responsibility management ▲effective manpower and budget allocation strategies ▲securing inspectors' professional capabilities ▲prevention-centered policies ▲public-private cooperation. According to KEF, the UK adopts a corporate autonomous responsibility management approach, allowing employers to choose how to manage and control risk factors themselves, and the Health and Safety Executive (HSE), with representatives from labor, management, and government, independently manages industrial safety and health. Additionally, HSE focuses manpower and budget on high-risk areas and has introduced data analysis systems to increase budget and operational efficiency.

On the other hand, KEF pointed out that in Korea, the Industrial Safety and Health Act stipulates 1,222 obligations that employers must comply with regardless of industry or workplace, making it difficult even for large corporations to fully comply. KEF also emphasized that industrial safety and health tasks are dispersed between the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, and that efficiency is reduced as all areas including manpower and budget are controlled by the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

Because of this, while the UK leads the industrial safety and health field with 2,400 HSE staff and a budget of 360 billion KRW, Korea invests 2,519 related personnel and a budget of 1.1121 trillion KRW but continues to face issues of detection and punishment-oriented policies and inefficiencies in prevention projects, KEF pointed out.

Lee Dong-geun, Vice Chairman of KEF, said, "Since the enactment of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, the ruling party and government have been discussing the establishment of an Industrial Safety and Health Agency, but I am very concerned that only government organizations will expand and punishment-centered administration will be strengthened." He added, "To effectively reduce industrial accidents, Korea must actively promote prevention-centered policies based on the expertise of industrial safety and health administrative organizations, along with a shift to a regulatory approach that places responsibility on corporate autonomy, as in the UK."

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