Labor Minister: "Concentrate All Available Resources and Capabilities on Preventing Major Accidents"

On the 6th, Lee Jeong-sik, Minister of Employment and Labor, delivered a greeting at the 13th plenary session of the Economic, Social and Labor Council (Gyeongsanowi) under the President, held in the main conference room of Gyeongsanowi in Jongno-gu, Seoul. Photo by Heo Young-han younghan@

Lee Jeong-sik, Minister of Employment and Labor, promised on the 19th, "We will concentrate all available resources and capabilities to prevent serious accidents in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs)."

On the same day, Minister Lee made this statement at the 'Resolution Rally for Full-Scale Response to Support the Prevention of Serious Accidents in SMEs' held at the Seoul Southern Branch of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency.

He said, "What the government can do now is to minimize confusion on the ground and alleviate the difficulties of small SMEs," adding, "As the first step, let us do our best to ensure that all 837,000 companies with fewer than 50 employees participate in the 'Industrial Safety Diagnosis' that has been underway since the 29th of last month."

He encouraged, "The Industrial Safety Diagnosis should be promoted with a focus on serving as the first gateway to raise awareness and efforts toward safety among companies, leading to easy and simple risk assessments, the establishment of tangible safety and health management systems, reinvestment in safety, and the spread of a safety-conscious culture."

Furthermore, he emphasized, "The spread of safety and health management systems will be a shortcut to reducing serious accidents and expanding safe and healthy good jobs," and stated that the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Agency will make all-out efforts at the forefront to achieve this.

The resolution rally was held amid the expansion of the Serious Accident Punishment Act to workplaces with fewer than 50 employees as of the 27th of last month, and the ongoing Industrial Safety Diagnosis covering 837,000 small and medium-sized workplaces nationwide.

Executives from both organizations and heads of institutions nationwide announced a declaration pledging to prevent serious accidents in SMEs by ▲ successfully completing the Industrial Safety Diagnosis ▲ supporting the establishment and implementation of self-regulatory prevention systems ▲ and making efforts to spread safety culture and awareness.

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