Seoul Facilities Corporation Focuses on 'Safety Management' Ahead of Serious Accident Punishment Act Enforcement... Identifying and Eliminating Hazardous Factors

'Daily Safety Briefing', Establishment of 'Hazard Factors and Near-Miss Reporting Reward System'... Supplementing the Right to Refuse Hazardous Work

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Facilities Corporation announced on the 21st that, following the establishment of a safety and health management system in preparation for the enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, it is making every effort to identify and eliminate hazardous factors in real time during daily operations through daily safety briefings, a hazard and near-miss reporting reward system, and open forums on serious accidents.

The Serious Accidents Punishment Act stipulates that when a serious accident occurs, management officials who neglect their duty to ensure safety and health can be sentenced to imprisonment for more than one year or fined up to 1 billion KRW.

The corporation analyzes and identifies all accidents and disasters that have occurred or could occur at 24 business sites, including exclusive roads and stadiums, and devises countermeasures. At the same time, it is revising and establishing related systems so that each employee can act as a safety guardian, protecting not only themselves but also the safety and lives of citizens using the facilities. It calculates the necessary budget for serious accident prevention projects and prioritizes them. Last year, it invested 17.3 billion KRW in 77 projects, including repairs and reinforcements of protective barriers on exclusive roads, and this year, it plans to allocate and use 22.2 billion KRW for 78 safety projects, including reinforcement of safety railings to prevent fall accidents.

The corporation is first raising company-wide safety awareness through the daily safety briefing system. Starting from the 20th, employees participate in a video conference every day at 9 a.m. for 10 minutes to share safety accident cases. This aims not only to prevent similar accidents within the corporation’s business sites but also to enhance the ability to anticipate risks and prevent other accidents.

Additionally, the corporation has launched a hazard and near-miss reporting reward system that rewards reports based on the number of submissions, even for minor hazardous factors such as ice formation or tangled electrical wires that may not seem dangerous at the time but could potentially lead to accidents. The key feature is convenience, as reports are made by taking photos and uploading them to the KakaoTalk channel. Furthermore, to increase employees’ understanding of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and prevent blind spots in management, open forums chaired by the head of the institution are held weekly.

The ‘Construction Sector Safety and Health Management System Certification (KOSHA-MS),’ promoted under the supervision of the Construction Supervision Headquarters, will also be expanded. Since this system strictly verifies whether the safety and health management system is well established and actually implemented, it aligns with the safety system requirements of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and is deemed necessary from the perspective of objectively assessing the level of safety management.

Chairman Cho Sung-il stated, “We will strengthen the disaster and accident response system, including natural and social disasters, and make every effort to prevent accidents.”

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