70% of Companies Say "Amendment to Industrial Safety Act Only Increases Regulations, No Effect on Industrial Accident Prevention"

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] It has been revealed that 70% of major domestic companies believe that the revised Industrial Safety and Health Act (ISHA) enacted last year has no effect on preventing industrial accidents.

The Korea Employers Federation (KEF) announced on the 30th the results of the "Comprehensive Revision of the Industrial Safety and Health Act Evaluation and Improvement Tasks Corporate Survey," conducted among 486 domestic companies (based on responses).

The current ISHA was fully revised to significantly expand and strengthen the scope of responsibility and punishment levels for business owners (prime contractors) and has been in effect since January 16 of last year.

According to KEF's survey results, 71.9% evaluated the effectiveness of the fully revised ISHA in preventing industrial accidents as "no effect or negative." The most common reason given was that only regulations and punishment levels for business owners (prime contractors) were significantly strengthened.

Regarding the provisions of the fully revised ISHA that need urgent improvement, "systems related to prime contractors and construction project owners" (51.0%) and "the Ministry of Employment and Labor's work stoppage order and lifting system in case of serious accidents" (28.1%) were identified.

Other provisions included "restrictions on subcontracting hazardous and dangerous work" and "the CEO's board reporting and approval system," in that order.

Regarding the necessity of "expanding worker obligations and strengthening penalties" to reduce industrial accidents, more than half of the responding companies, 55.5%, answered "necessary."

The reasons cited were that "accident prevention is impossible with only business owner supervision under current law" and "there is a need to raise workers' safety awareness."

Regarding the revision plan of the ISHA to reduce industrial accidents, the most frequent responses were "clarifying the safety management roles and responsibilities between prime and subcontractors" and "the need for detailed regulations on safety rules that workers must follow."

Additionally, respondents pointed to "significant relaxation of administrative regulations such as document preparation and reporting procedures," "a major overhaul of safety and health regulations considering field suitability," and "establishment of safety and health management systems considering industry and company size" as areas for improvement.

43.8% Oppose the Establishment of the Industrial Safety and Health Agency

Meanwhile, 43.8% opposed the government's ruling party's plan to establish the Industrial Safety and Health Agency.

This reflects both expectations that the agency will be a dedicated organization securing expertise and supporting industrial accident prevention, and concerns that the current punishment-oriented policy approach might rather be expanded.

Regarding the most important tasks to be pursued upon establishing the Industrial Safety and Health Agency, 48.8% pointed to "establishing supervision policies focused on prevention rather than punishment."

Other priorities included "customized supervision and enforcement by industry, scale, and accident type," "revising the legal system focusing on enhancing companies' autonomous accident prevention capabilities and field operability," and "securing expertise of inspectors in industrial safety and health supervisory administration," in that order.

KEF Vice Chairman Donggeun Lee said, "The fully revised ISHA, which significantly strengthened only the responsibility of business owners (prime contractors), is not helping prevent industrial accidents," adding, "The government and the National Assembly should not focus solely on punishment-centered legislation but should revise the ISHA and the Serious Accident Punishment Act to enhance the effectiveness of safety regulations and operate administrative organizations with a prevention-centered approach."

Vice Chairman Lee emphasized, "To reduce industrial accidents, above all, a corporate culture where safety regulations are strictly observed at the workplace must be established," and added, "For this, strengthening workers' responsibility for safety is essential. The worker obligation provisions, which are insufficient compared to foreign countries, should be expanded, and the law should be amended to exclude accidents caused by workers' negligence from the scope of management responsibility under the Serious Accident Punishment Act."

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