Business Community Urges Government: "Prevention in Advance Is More Important Than Punishment or Sanctions for Serious Accidents"

Business Community Submits Proposal
Urges Shift to Prevention-Focused Industrial Accident Policy
Calls for Guidance and Support-Based Supervision Over Punitive Measures

As the number of fatal industrial accidents has not decreased despite the enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, the business community has urged the government to shift its industrial accident prevention policy to focus on 'prevention in advance.' They pointed out that the government should support the establishment of autonomous prevention and management systems within companies and raise compliance rates by adopting supervision that emphasizes guidance and support, similar to advanced countries.

The Korea Employers Federation announced on September 4 that it had submitted a 'Proposal from the Business Community for Reducing Serious Accidents' to the government.

The Federation stated, "Although the government and the National Assembly have continued to strengthen regulations and penalties for business owners (including primary contractors) regarding safety through the complete revision of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and the enactment of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, the reduction in fatal accidents has been minimal." They explained, "We submitted the proposal out of concern that the 'Comprehensive Labor Safety Measures' being prepared by the new administration are focused on investigations, punishment, and economic sanctions against companies involved in serious accidents or legal violations, which could significantly undermine business activities without effectively preventing industrial accidents."

They continued, "Given that Korea has already introduced some of the world's strictest safety regulations and business owner liability laws, it will be difficult to effectively reduce fatalities if the government continues to pursue an industrial safety policy centered solely on post-incident sanctions."

The Federation first recommended that the new administration shift the focus of industrial accident prevention policy from 'post-incident punishment and supervision' to 'prevention in advance.' They also suggested that the core principle of policy should be to revise the various business owner liability standards scattered across multiple laws and to overhaul safety regulations that are not functioning effectively in the field.

The Federation added, "A special set of measures to address the persistent issues in industrial accident prevention policies and programs-such as unprofessional accident investigations and inefficiencies in prevention projects, which have been repeatedly pointed out by labor-management organizations and experts-must be included in the comprehensive measures being prepared by the new administration."

As specific action items, the Federation proposed: unifying the legal basis for penalizing workplaces where serious accidents occur under the Occupational Safety and Health Act; relaxing or abolishing the criminal liability standards for management under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act; pursuing amendments to the Act to improve compliance rates; and conducting a sweeping overhaul of safety regulations that are not suitable for the field or have little effect in reducing serious accidents.

Additionally, to foster an ecosystem for building safety management systems centered on companies and industries, the Federation suggested: expanding support for safety management at industrial sites and promoting the safety-related industry through the enactment of a tentative 'Act on the Prevention of Industrial Accidents'; and preparing measures to strengthen the role and participation of private organizations in industrial accident prevention.

For establishing an autonomous safety management system, the Federation emphasized the need to rationally revise laws and systems in consideration of the limitations of contractor management scope, foreign legislative examples, and the need to enhance the effectiveness of accident prevention. They also stressed that essential obligations for workers (such as safety rules) should be stipulated by law.

The Federation stated, "The method of workplace supervision should be shifted to focus on guidance and support, and the functions of accident cause investigation and research should be strengthened." They added, "The approach to workplace supervision should move from immediate punishment to guidance and support first, with penalties applied only if corrective orders are not followed. The government should concentrate its supervision and support on small and medium-sized businesses, enhance the expertise of administrative personnel involved in industrial accident prevention, improve the accident cause investigation system, and expand research organizations (infrastructure) to strengthen accident cause analysis."

Lee Donggeun, Executive Vice Chairman of the Federation, stated, "Preventing serious accidents can only be achieved when not only companies but all members of the workplace strengthen their sense of responsibility and cooperation." He added, "Rather than creating new punitive measures, it is more important to enhance the effectiveness of safety regulations and prevention projects, and to establish a safety management system that enables on-site safety activities to be carried out autonomously and systematically, which the government should focus on supporting through policy."

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