[Column] Will SME Safety Management Remain Just a Desk Exercise?

Joint Safety Manager Measures Proposed, but the Field Responds with a Sigh

"One person managing safety for 20 companies? This is a typical desk-bound administration." Mr. Lee, a representative of a small and medium manufacturing company, firmly stated that the government’s ‘Joint Safety Manager Support Project,’ which will be implemented from April, will only waste money without any effect.

On the 31st of last month, small and medium-sized enterprise groups held a rally in front of the National Assembly condemning the failure to postpone the Serious Accidents Punishment Act for workplaces with fewer than 50 employees.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

This project involves regional and industry-specific user organizations and industrial complex management corporations hiring joint safety managers who visit small businesses with fewer than 50 employees. The government will support 2.5 million KRW per month for eight months. The support scale is 600 people. This was announced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor after the two-year grace period for the Serious Accident Punishment Act for workplaces with fewer than 50 employees was scrapped at the end of last month.

Workplaces with fewer than 50 employees in industries excluding manufacturing, forestry, sewage, environment, and waste businesses are not obligated to hire safety managers under the Serious Accident Punishment Act. Experts recommend that business owners voluntarily appoint safety managers to prepare for possible criminal penalties in case of serious accidents, but small companies lack the capacity. The government explains that the Joint Safety Manager Support Project is a policy for such small-scale enterprises.

However, all small business owners the reporter asked about this project shook their heads. They unanimously said that having one joint safety manager manage 20 companies is a misunderstanding of the realities of small businesses and only pretends to help. Even if the manager visits one company every day, each company will receive safety management only one day per month. In other words, even companies where dangerous work continues daily on site may see a safety manager only once a month or less. Currently, even safety managers dedicated to one workplace are buried in paperwork such as safety management reports and basic safety and health education for workers, making it difficult to visit the site.

The number 600 is also insufficient. There are a total of 830,000 workplaces with fewer than 50 employees, including 80,000 high-risk workplaces, to which the Serious Accident Punishment Act has been expanded. Even if 600 people each manage 20 workplaces, that covers only 12,000 workplaces, or 1.45% of the total 830,000.

The small and medium business community earnestly appeals for the passage of a grace period for the Serious Accident Punishment Act at the final plenary session of the February extraordinary National Assembly on the afternoon of the 29th. While a grace period is most important in the short term, fundamentally, ‘effective measures’ are much more important. The Joint Safety Manager project should significantly expand the scale and duration of support and enable them to escape the paperwork and be active on site. Along with this, fundamental measures to support small companies in appointing dedicated safety managers must be urgently prepared. Desk-bound administration cannot prevent serious accidents in small and medium enterprises.

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