KCCI "Relaxation of Musculoskeletal Disease Industrial Accident Recognition Standards Causes On-Site Confusion"

Ministry of Employment Announces Administrative Notice on Amendment to Omit Musculoskeletal Disease Survey for Workers in Shipbuilding, Automobile, Tire, and Construction Sectors with Over One Year of Service and Determine Industrial Accident Status
Korea Employers Federation Warns "If Amendment Passes, 70-80% of Workers in These Industries Will Be Affected, Raising Concerns of Severe Workplace Confusion and Moral Hazard"

[Asia Economy Reporter Changhwan Lee] The Korea Employers Federation announced on the afternoon of the 13th that it held a forum on "Improvement Directions for the Recognition Criteria of Musculoskeletal Disorders as Industrial Accidents" at the Federation Hall in Mapo-gu, Seoul.

The Federation explained that this forum was organized to seek improvement directions because the Ministry of Employment and Labor's proposed revision of the recognition criteria for musculoskeletal disorders as industrial accidents (introduction of the presumption principle), which was administratively announced at the end of last year, was prepared without sufficient medical and epidemiological evidence and was feared to cause unreasonable damage to certain industries.

The proposed revision is proceeding in a direction that shortens the investigation process for musculoskeletal diseases among long-term workers in some industries, thereby increasing the possibility of recognizing industrial accidents.

Professor Dongpil Woo of Dongui University, who presented at the forum, said, "Even for the same type of work, there are differences in work methods, hours, workload, facilities, and rest times at each workplace, resulting in varying labor intensity," and analyzed, "The presumption principle proposed by the government cannot reflect differences in labor intensity by workplace."

Professor Woo criticized, "If a non-scientific standard prepared without objective work investigation is applied, companies that have actively invested in improving the work environment and those that maintain poor working conditions will all receive the same industrial accident approval results," adding, "The Ministry of Employment and Labor's revision reduces companies' motivation to improve safety and health and to increase investment."

Another presenter, Dr. Sugeun Kim, an occupational and environmental medicine specialist at Gangnam Hospital, argued, "The recognition criteria were prepared in a convenient manner without reviewing the causal relationship between work factors and diseases, violating basic principles and causing unreasonable discrimination between industries and occupations."

Dr. Kim pointed out, "The normal way to set the presumption principle is to define it after confirming the causal relationship between work-related factors such as heavy lifting, improper posture frequency (time), vibration exposure level, and specific diseases through literature review. However, the Ministry of Employment and Labor's proposed revision simply selected occupations with high industrial accident approval rates through a simple statistical approach without confirming the causal relationship between work factors and diseases."

Im Wootaek, head of the Federation, stated, "Since 70-80% of workers in the relevant industries are subject to this, it will cause serious confusion at the workplace and encourage moral hazard, and the effect of shortening processing time due to increased applications will be minimal," and insisted, "The proposed revision, which stigmatizes specific industries, must be withdrawn."

Im also predicted, "Even now, in industrial sites, repeated industrial accident approvals based on unsubstantiated benevolence are problematic. If the proposed revision, which applies to 70-80% of production workers in shipbuilding, automobile, and tire industries, passes, indiscriminate expansion of industrial accident compensation will worsen moral hazard such as fraudulent claims, and the resulting deterioration of industrial accident insurance finances will ultimately limit the protection of diligent workers."

The Federation stated that it plans to comprehensively review the contents discussed at the forum along with opinions from experts and the industrial field, prepare the business community's position on the proposed revision, and submit it to the Ministry of Employment and Labor during the administrative announcement period.

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