Government to Intensively Manage 'High-Risk Workplaces'... Special Inspection if Two or More Deaths Occur

Ministry of Employment and Labor's '2022 Comprehensive Industrial Safety Supervision Plan'
Special Management of High-Risk Workplaces under Serious Accident Punishment Act
Strengthened Preventive Supervision Focused on Headquarters and Primary Contractors

Gwangju Seo-gu Hwajeong I-Park Collapse Accident Site [Image Source=Yonhap News]

Companies such as HDC Hyundai Development Company and Sampyo Industry, where serious fatal accidents have occurred, will be designated as 'high-risk workplaces' and managed intensively going forward. The 'On-site Inspection Day,' which checks compliance with major safety measures targeting small-scale workplaces, will expand its scope, and companies causing social disturbances will also face strong planned supervision.

On the 7th, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced the 'Comprehensive Plan for Industrial Safety and Health Supervision' containing these details. The ministry emphasized, "This year, we plan to focus our efforts on enhancing the preventive effectiveness of industrial safety and health supervision, aiming for the on-site establishment of the Serious Accident Punishment Act and a drastic reduction in fatal accidents."

First, high-risk workplaces subject to the Serious Accident Punishment Act will undergo special management. Among workplaces with 50 or more employees, high-risk workplaces will be selected and intensively managed by comprehensively considering various risk factors such as accident history over the past five years and possession of hazardous machinery. For those under intensive management, local labor offices, the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, and private accident prevention organizations will collaborate to promote preventive activities.

The 'On-site Inspection Day,' which focuses on checking small-scale workplaces for ▲fall prevention measures ▲entrapment prevention measures ▲provision and wearing of safety protective gear, will also be strengthened. Last year, the Ministry of Employment and Labor conducted 12 On-site Inspection Days in the second half of the year, inspecting a total of 26,424 workplaces, identifying 16,718 sites (63.3%) for violations and completing corrective actions.

Going forward, the inspection targets will expand from mainly construction and manufacturing businesses with fewer than 50 employees and less than 5 billion KRW in sales to construction, manufacturing, and other high-risk industries with fewer than 100 employees and less than 12 billion KRW in sales. Industries such as waste disposal, building management, transportation, warehousing, telecommunications, onshore cargo handling within ports, and mining will be included in the inspection targets. Workplaces with poor safety management based on inspection results will face additional supervision and strict measures.

Sampyo Seongsu Ready-Mix Concrete Plant in Seongdong-gu, Seoul [Image source=Yonhap News]

Additionally, regionally focused intensive supervision conducted independently by local labor offices will be expanded. Collaboration with local governments will be actively promoted to enhance the effectiveness of planned supervision, focusing on red-zone areas with clusters of fatal accidents by region.

Special supervision will be conducted when conditions such as two or more deaths occurring simultaneously or three or more deaths within the past year are met. The supervision target will be expanded to the company level to ensure that the results of special supervision are implemented at all sites belonging to the company. In cases where headquarters and branch offices are separated, the special supervision target will include the headquarters or affiliated workplaces. For example, if an accident occurs at HDC Hyundai Development Company's Gwangju construction site, all construction sites nationwide will be supervised.

For companies causing social disturbances due to major accidents, strong planned supervision equivalent to special supervision will be promoted on a quarterly basis. The Ministry of Employment and Labor will also support the establishment of safety and health management systems. It will check key points to help companies build substantial safety and health management systems and suggest improvement directions. Industrial safety supervision, which previously took less than a day, will be extended to an average of more than two days, and the supervision results will be directly explained to the CEO and management responsible. To prevent recurrence, the results of special and planned supervision will be disclosed to the media.

Kwon Ki-seop, head of the Industrial Safety and Health Headquarters at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, said, "With the full enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act, it is a time when a revolutionary increase in the preventive effectiveness of industrial safety and health supervision is required," and added, "We will practically support companies in establishing and implementing safety and health management systems through high-quality supervision."

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