Expansion of Construction Safety and Health Management Expense Usage... "Smart Equipment Purchase Allowed"

Managers are conducting a safety inspection at an apartment construction site in Gyeonggi-do. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

From now on, construction companies will be able to use the 'Construction Industry Safety and Health Management Expenses' paid by the client for a wider range of purposes, including the introduction of smart safety equipment.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 1st that it will implement the revised Employment Ministry Notice on "Calculation and Usage Standards for Construction Industry Safety and Health Management Expenses," which expands the scope of use for safety and health management expenses in the construction industry, starting from the 2nd.

Safety and health management expenses are costs paid by the client to the contractor (construction company) to prevent industrial accidents at construction sites, typically set at around 2-3% of the total construction cost. The government has established clear usage standards to ensure that these funds are not used for purposes other than industrial accident prevention.

However, with the implementation of comprehensive safety regulations such as the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, there have been many calls from construction sites to relax the usage standards for safety and health management expenses. The Ministry of Employment and Labor explained, "This revision of the notice was made by gathering the difficulties faced by major construction companies that have been actively working to prevent industrial accident fatalities recently."

First, considering the increased use of smart safety equipment on site, the ministry decided to allow the use of safety and health management expenses within a 20% limit for the purchase and rental costs of smart safety facilities and equipment aimed at accident prevention and work supervision.

Additionally, a new category for risk assessment items has been established, permitting the use of safety and health management expenses for risk assessments under the Industrial Safety and Health Act or for identifying and improving harmful and dangerous factors under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. However, the items must be determined through labor-management agreement.

According to the amendment to the Industrial Safety and Health Act, effective from August 18, safety and health management expenses can also be used for the installation and management of rest facilities, including temperature and lighting, which employers are required to provide. Previously, exceptions were only made for costs related to installing, dismantling, and maintaining temporary rest facilities to protect workers during extreme cold or heat, but this has now been expanded.

The ministry also allowed up to 50% of the wages for part-time safety and health managers, in addition to full-time safety and health managers, to be paid from safety and health management expenses. Currently, construction sites with a project cost of 12 billion KRW or more are required to appoint full-time safety managers, and the requirement for appointing part-time safety managers is being gradually introduced for sites costing between 5 billion and 12 billion KRW.

Furthermore, the use of safety and health management expenses for purchasing infectious disease prevention supplies such as masks, thermometers, and hand sanitizers, which was temporarily allowed due to the spread of COVID-19, will now be permitted on a regular basis.

Kim Gyuseok, Director of Industrial Accident Prevention and Supervision Policy at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, emphasized, "We will support each construction company to take more proactive safety measures by utilizing safety and health management expenses, while strictly sanctioning any use for purposes other than intended, and strive to ensure that the revised standards are quickly established on site."

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