SME Industry: "Excessive Obligations and Penalties in Jungcheo Act, Urgent Improvement Needed for Unclear Regulations"

Discussion on Improvement of Serious Accident Punishment Act and Industrial Accident Prevention Measures

On the 16th, the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business (KBIZ) announced that it held a “Discussion Forum on the Improvement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and Measures for Industrial Accident Prevention” at the KBIZ Hall. The forum was jointly hosted by 10 small and medium-sized enterprise, construction, and fisheries organizations to explore directions for amending the law and to consider effective measures for preventing industrial accidents, following the constitutional complaint filed on April 1 regarding the Serious Accidents Punishment Act (hereinafter referred to as the Act).

Professor Jung Jin-woo of the Department of Safety Engineering at Seoul National University of Science and Technology, who served as a presenter, stated, “The Act is a product of a punitive absolutism that has failed to contribute to the reduction of serious accidents,” and “The Serious Accidents Punishment Act contains many provisions that conflict with constitutional principles such as the principle of clarity and the principle of prohibition of excess, as well as safety principles, raising concerns about arbitrary law enforcement by investigative agencies. This is negatively impacting accident prevention, so all possibilities must be kept open and the Act should be thoroughly revised as soon as possible.”

Korea Federation of SMEs

The second presenter, Lee Myung-ro, Head of the Human Resources Policy Division at KBIZ, said, “Reducing serious accidents is possible only when the efforts of companies, workers, and the government are combined,” and “especially for small and medium-sized enterprises, which often lack sufficient personnel and budget, it is crucial to focus on practical preventive measures rather than paperwork-based responses, ensuring compliance with safety rules, and workers must actively cooperate to create a safe workplace.”

Following this, the discussion was chaired by Professor Choi Jun-sun, Professor Emeritus at Sungkyunkwan University School of Law, and from the government side, Park Hee-jun, Director of the Industrial Safety and Health Policy Division at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, attended. Representing the industry, Jung Dong-min, CEO of Bethel Construction, Kim Tae-hwan, CEO of Yuno Fisheries, and Kim Do-kyung, Executive Director of Top Engineering, presented difficulties and improvement measures perceived by small and medium-sized enterprises regarding the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, focusing on field cases. From the legal sector, Kim Yong-moon, Senior Attorney at Dentons Lee, and Choi Jin-won, Attorney at Taepyungyang, pointed out problems with the Act and proposed improvements such as clarifying mandatory provisions, introducing a public certification system, and deferring the application of the law. In academia, Professor Lee Myung-gu of the Department of Health, Environment and Safety at Eulji University and Professor Lee Geun-woo of the Department of Law at Gachon University discussed the necessity of revising the law to promote preventive activities rather than punishment and addressed issues related to major civic disasters.

Jung Yoon-mo, Executive Vice President of KBIZ, said, “It has been about 100 days since the expanded application of the Act began, but small and medium-sized enterprises are still confused about what they need to prepare,” adding, “The unclear and excessive obligations under the Act and the severe criminal penalties of imprisonment for more than one year must be improved.”

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