Leaving the Serious Accident Punishment Act Aside, Only the Manual? ... Industry Deeply Concerned

National Tasks Include Amendments to Industrial Safety and Health Laws
Limits of Enforcement Decree Amendments on Employer Punishment Provisions

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Oh Hyung-gil] "The first policy direction during my term is to remove all regulations that can be lifted. The government's role is to eliminate obstacles and regulations that hinder entrepreneurs, and the new administration will work based on the principle of unconditionally supporting the people and companies who are determined to work hard and make money." (President-elect Yoon Seok-yeol, April 20, visit to Jeonju National Pension Service and Daebul National Industrial Complex)

Although the new government has decided to revise subordinate statutes rather than amend the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, which marked its 100th day of enforcement on the 6th, voices from the business community are already pointing out institutional limitations. Despite the disclosure of the new government's national agenda, the content of 'regulatory reform' that restricts corporate activities is evaluated as falling short of initial expectations.

According to the industrial sector on the 6th, the 20th Presidential Transition Committee announced through the '110 National Tasks' that "regarding industrial safety, we will resolve uncertainties on the ground by revising related industrial safety and health laws and clarify the obligations of managers to ensure safety and health through guidelines and manuals."

Considering the 'minority government' situation and the fact that the law has not been in effect for long, the intention is to prepare improvement measures through presidential decrees rather than amending the law.

The clarification is expected to pertain to the item of 'management measures necessary to fulfill obligations under safety and health-related laws,' which is defined as one of the safety and health obligations of business owners and management officials.

[Image source=Yonhap News]

Professor Lee Hwang-hee of Sungkyunkwan University Law School explained, "The contents of safety and health-related laws are prerequisites for punishment under this law, but there is a problem that it is difficult to know the specific details from the legal text alone," adding, "If investigative agencies find even minor issues related to safety or health, it may become very difficult for business owners and management officials to escape allegations of violating obligations."

In particular, there are also criticisms that the revision of the enforcement decree has clear limitations regarding the punishment provisions that the business community has been demanding to amend. Currently, if one or more workers die due to a serious industrial accident at a workplace, the management responsible for neglecting safety measures is subject to imprisonment for more than one year or a fine of up to 1 billion KRW.

The business community requests lowering the punishment level to fines rather than imprisonment, which could increase management uncertainty, but this is impossible without legal amendments. A law firm official predicted, "Given the minority government in the National Assembly, it will be difficult to amend the law in a short period," and added, "From a corporate perspective, preemptive regulatory review and compliance analysis-based countermeasures will be required."

An industry insider said, "I understand that plans to ease the punishment strength of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act from imprisonment to fines are under consideration, but it will take considerable time until actual legal amendments are made," and lamented, "No matter how much safety budget or personnel is significantly increased, accidents are bound to happen, which is frustrating."

Regarding the Chemical Control Act (Chemical Substances Control Act) and the Chemical Registration and Evaluation Act (Chemical Substances Registration and Evaluation Act), which the industrial sector had pointed out as excessive regulatory legislation, the national agenda includes the '2024 introduction of designation and differentiated management of hazardous chemicals' instead of legal amendments. Although the intention is to apply regulations differently depending on the types of chemical substances, confusion at the frontline is expected to be inevitable until detailed contents are released.

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