"Serious Accident Punishment Act, Abolition and Major Reform Needed"

KCCI 'Paradigm Shift for Innovation in Industrial Accident Prevention' Forum

[Asia Economy Reporter Kiho Sung] Regarding the industrial accident prevention system, there is a claim that a fundamental shift in industrial safety policy from post-punishment to support and prevention-centered approaches is necessary for a dramatic reduction in major industrial accidents. In particular, it has been pointed out that the Serious Accidents Punishment Act needs to be abolished and drastically reformed to improve the system.

The Korea Employers Federation (KEF) held a forum titled "Paradigm Shift for Innovation in Industrial Accident Prevention" at the Press Center on the 20th.

In his opening remarks, KEF Senior Vice President Donggeun Lee stated, “Since the Serious Accidents Punishment Act was fully enforced earlier this year, only social confusion surrounding the law has continued, and no groundbreaking reduction in industrial accidents has been observed so far.” He added, “To effectively reduce serious accidents, the industrial safety policy framework must shift to a support and prevention-centered approach like advanced countries, and companies must quickly transform into a trusted professional administrative organization.”

Professor Jinwoo Jeong of the Department of Safety Engineering at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, who gave the keynote presentation, pointed out problems with Korea’s serious accident laws and policy operations, including ▲proliferation of ineffective safety regulations ▲inadequate investigation of accident causes ▲neglect in efforts to establish and revise technical guidelines ▲unclear and ambiguous obligations and responsibilities of contractors ▲lack of expertise among administrative personnel ▲and unsustainable serious accident laws.

Professor Jeong emphasized the need for innovation in serious accident laws and policy operations, stating, “Korea also needs to move away from a punishment-centered legal and policy system and reform laws to enhance the effectiveness of serious accident prevention,” and “strengthening the expertise of industrial safety administrative organizations is a necessary condition to solve many current government policy problems.”

Specifically, he proposed as innovation measures ▲preparing administrative rules and guidelines to ensure the effectiveness of safety regulations for subcontracted work ▲comprehensive reform of the Industrial Safety and Health Standards Regulations ▲strengthening the effectiveness of accident prevention projects for small and medium-sized enterprises ▲and establishing specialized industrial accident prevention organizations.

The forum, chaired by Professor Hyukmyun Kwon of Yonsei University, featured experts representing academia, government, labor, and management as panelists, who presented diverse opinions on effective legal and institutional reforms and rational administrative operation plans for preventing serious industrial accidents.

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