Launch of the Industrial Safety and Health Headquarters under the Serious Accident Punishment Act... Accumulating Management Risks

Ministry of Employment Launches Inauguration Ceremony on the 13th
Prevention and Crackdown on Serious Accidents
"The Goal is to Change Employers' Awareness"

Kwon Gi-seop, Director of the Occupational Safety and Health Headquarters at the Ministry of Employment and Labor. (Photo by Yonhap News)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The Industrial Safety and Health Headquarters, which will serve as the control tower function related to the Serious Accident Punishment Act, has been launched.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor held the inauguration ceremony for the Industrial Safety and Health Headquarters on the 13th at the Ministry's annex in Banggok-dong, Sejong City. Prime Minister Kim Boo-kyum, Song Young-gil, leader of the Democratic Party of Korea, Park Wan-joo, chairman of the Policy Committee, along with members of the National Assembly and labor-management representatives attended.

The headquarters is an expanded and reorganized organization of the existing industrial safety organization (Occupational Accident Prevention and Compensation Policy Bureau) within the Ministry of Employment and Labor. The organization and personnel were significantly expanded to closely manage sites where fatal accidents occurred. Five departments were added to the existing five departments, and personnel increased by 35 to a total of 82. Related organizations in local labor offices nationwide also added 17 departments to the existing 46, increasing personnel from 715 to 821.

The headquarters will take the lead in on-site inspections related to the Serious Accident Punishment Act. Its first role is to implement the 'On-site Inspection Day,' conducting nationwide simultaneous inspections every two weeks. For the first inspection, about 1,800 personnel were deployed to focus on whether fall and entrapment accident prevention measures were properly implemented. In this regard, Vice Minister of Employment and Labor Park Hwa-jin visited a construction site on the 14th and stated, "Sites with poor fall accident conditions will be linked to industrial safety and health supervision, and administrative and judicial measures will definitely be taken."

After the inspection on the 28th, from next month’s inspections, unannounced inspections will be conducted without prior notice to workplaces. Workplaces with insufficient safety measures will be linked to labor supervision, and if violations of the law are found, criminal penalties will be imposed. Kwon Ki-seop, head of the Industrial Safety and Health Headquarters, said, "Even though the headquarters has grown in size, there are 2.7 million workplaces subject to industrial accident management and 19 million workers nationwide, so it is impossible to inspect each one individually. The primary goal is to enable employers to recognize the risk factors in their workplaces themselves and to make improvements."

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