Death from fall while working without safety helmet... First prosecution under Serious Accident Punishment Act

The management officer of a multi-family housing management company has been brought to trial in connection with an incident where a worker, who was not wearing a safety helmet, fell to death from a ladder. This is the first time the prosecution has applied the Serious Accidents Punishment Act to a multi-family housing management company.

The Criminal Division 5 of the Seoul Northern District Prosecutors' Office (Chief Prosecutor Park Kyung-seop) announced on the 14th that the management officer of Company A and others have been indicted without detention on charges of violating the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.

On the first day of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, which allows for the punishment of management officials when serious accidents such as worker fatalities occur, a construction site of an apartment in Gyeonggi-do on the 27th. The photo is not directly related to the article content. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

B, a man in his 60s who belonged to Company A, died after falling from a ladder while performing ceiling leak prevention work without wearing a safety helmet at the first-floor entrance of an apartment in Dongdaemun-gu, Seoul, on April 15 last year.

As a result of the prosecution's investigation, it was revealed that the CEO of Company A completely failed to fulfill the obligation to secure safety and health measures necessary for accident prevention.

The prosecution judged that the company’s CEO did not establish safety and health goals or management policies, neglected to identify hazardous and dangerous factors according to the nature of the business, and failed to prepare improvement procedures. Furthermore, the CEO did not set evaluation criteria for the performance of safety and health management officers, nor establish procedures for hearing workers' opinions, thereby violating the obligation to secure safety and health, leading to the application of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.

A prosecution official stated, "We will continue to respond strictly to serious accident cases to protect the lives and safety of workers."

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