Three Months Since the Serious Accident Punishment Act Enforcement... Seoul City Holds 'The Safety Meeting' Led by Mayor Oh Se-hoon

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Min-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government announced that it will hold the "The Safety Meeting" on the 26th to review and supplement the progress made over the past three months since the enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. This meeting was organized to look back on what has been promoted and what has changed since the enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act in January.

Attending the meeting are Seoul Mayor Oh Se-hoon, the first and second deputy mayors, the head of the Safety General Office, Professor Seok Jae-wang of Konkuk University’s Department of Security and Disaster Management, who is the vice chairman of the Seoul Safety Advisory Council, and 11 members of the Seoul Safety Advisory Council along with about 30 heads of departments and bureaus responsible for serious accident facilities, who will participate online. The meeting will be broadcast live on Live Seoul.

The agenda for the meeting includes: ?Presentation on the progress since the enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act (Safety General Office Chief, Labor, Fairness, and Coexistence Policy Officer) ?Presentation of major cases of serious accident prevention (Urban Infrastructure Headquarters, Waterworks Headquarters, Seoul Grand Park) ?Evaluation by members of the Seoul Safety Advisory Council ?Comprehensive discussion, among others.

Before the law was enforced, the city held preparatory review meetings chaired by Mayor Oh and established the "Seoul Metropolitan Government Comprehensive Plan for Serious Accident Prevention." Currently, there are a total of 1,001 serious accident facilities under the city’s management, including public use facilities such as bridges and construction sites. Each facility’s managing department establishes and monitors safety management plans.

In addition, the city has conducted "Safety and Health Management Responsibility Training for Serious Accident Prevention" targeting the Seoul mayor, 25 district mayors, and heads of affiliated organizations, and has also established the Seoul Safety Advisory Council composed of experts from various fields.

Furthermore, in February, the city requested the government to clarify ambiguous or unclear parts of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and its enforcement decree, and continues to strive for amendments to the law that cause confusion and inconvenience at the field level. Currently, 65 institutions in Seoul have completed their 2022 safety management plans and are required to submit implementation inspections and results going forward.

Going forward, the city plans to enact a Seoul Metropolitan Government ordinance that covers all workplaces in Seoul to efficiently and systematically manage workplace safety and health, replacing the individual workplace safety and health management regulations previously prepared and operated under the Industrial Safety and Health Act.

Moreover, the city will build an "Integrated Safety and Health Management System" to centrally manage the status of serious accident target facilities and legal compliance matters, accumulating accident histories of subcontracting, service, and consignment projects to preemptively filter out problematic companies. The city also plans to promote research services such as "accident forensic profiling" to utilize profiling techniques, previously used in criminal investigations, for analyzing accident causes.

Expert on-site consulting will be conducted for serious accident workplaces, and to complement workforce limitations and proactively eliminate risk factors, smart safety technologies will be introduced and standard safety management designs will be developed.

Professor Seok Jae-wang said, "Although there were difficulties during the enactment process due to ambiguous provisions in the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, since it was implemented to ensure the safety of workers and the public, efforts to enhance effectiveness focusing on prevention in administration, and amendments to the law and enforcement decree reflecting the opinions of local governments, labor, and businesses are necessary."

Han Je-hyun, head of the Safety General Office of Seoul, said, "The Serious Accidents Punishment Act means to prevent and prepare so that accidents do not occur rather than punishing mistakes. Seoul has been preparing with the determination to re-examine Seoul’s safety standards even before the enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act."

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