"Seoul City Requests Government to Clarify Ambiguous 'Serious Accident Punishment Act'"

One Month Since Implementation... Recommendations for Improvement Through New Notices and Legislative Supplements for Excessively Unclear or Inadequate Areas

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] On the 27th, the Seoul Metropolitan Government announced plans to request the government to clarify excessively vague or ambiguous parts of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and its enforcement decree. The request is to specify and clarify the insufficient parts through the establishment of official notices or legislative supplements.

The items Seoul City plans to re-request from the government include ▲ the enactment of official notices to supplement detailed deficiencies in the Serious Accidents Punishment Act ▲ legislative supplements to specify and clarify unclear or ambiguous provisions in the enforcement decree. Seoul City plans to formally send an official letter to the government as soon as possible to strongly urge action. This is based on the judgment that, one month after the enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, the scope of obligations that each institution must fulfill is unclear, and the implementation details are not specific, causing considerable confusion on the ground.

Seoul City argues that the provisions in Article 8 of the enforcement decree, such as "equipping necessary personnel" and "budgeting and executing necessary funds," use the term "necessary," which is abstract, making it unclear how much personnel and budget should actually be prepared. Seoul City explained, "The obligation to secure safety and health for serious accident prevention applies to businesses or workplaces that employers, corporations, or institutions substantially control, operate, or manage, but the term 'substantial' is ambiguous, so interpretations and responses may vary."

Furthermore, Seoul City emphasized that if the deficiencies in the Serious Accidents Punishment Act are improved, related laws and detailed guidelines that are sequentially affected by the law must also be immediately improved. For example, Seoul City points out that the contents of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act have not been reflected in local contract laws and related regulations, which serve as the legal basis when actually promoting contracts such as consignment, subcontracting, and service contracts.

Seoul City sent an improvement suggestion letter to related ministries, including the Ministry of Employment and Labor, in January to revise local contract laws and related regulations concerning criteria for selecting successful bidders in local government bids, but the government has been lukewarm and passive in responding to Seoul City's improvement suggestions.

Meanwhile, Seoul City has made multifaceted efforts to secure the effectiveness of the law even before the enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. In December last year, Seoul City established a comprehensive plan for serious accident prevention, and Mayor Oh Se-hoon chaired several preparation review meetings.

Even after the law was enforced, Mayor Oh Se-hoon has held daily situation report meetings throughout the month to discuss and respond to various issues related to serious accidents. Good ideas from the meetings, such as benchmarking Samsung’s ban on mobile phone use while walking or working, are immediately implemented to enhance effectiveness.

Each department, headquarters, and bureau chief also conducts on-site inspections weekly to check whether the safety plans and manuals established for each workplace are functioning well, and the inspection results are shared at the vice mayor’s joint meetings to take necessary measures.

Han Je-hyun, Director of Seoul City’s Safety General Office, said, "On the one-month anniversary of the enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, we will once again request the government to revise the laws that have caused confusion and inconvenience on the ground because they were not previously reflected," adding, "We will carefully review with the ‘Seoul Safety Advisory Committee’ whether there are additional matters that need to be supplemented in the future."

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