As the enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act approaches and the burden on the industry increases, an analysis has emerged that the 'I-CARE' safety management program, which enhances the behavioral reliability of organizational members, can eliminate the fundamental cause of industrial accidents, the 'human factor.'
According to a survey conducted by the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business targeting 500 companies, 80% of businesses feel burdened by the enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. With 75.6% of accident causes attributed to 'worker negligence and non-compliance with safety rules,' there is concern that merely punishing companies will not reduce accidents. More than 80% of recent industrial accidents are caused by human factors such as worker inexperience and mistakes. The increase in human errors or mistakes is not because people are more careless than before. Among the three main causes of accidents?'equipment factors,' 'technical factors,' and 'human factors'?the equipment and technical factors have been eliminated through improved safety awareness and the adoption of advanced safety management techniques, bringing human factors to the forefront.
According to Gaon Partners Co., Ltd. (CEO Kim Ki-hong), a domestic operation consulting specialist company, human factors cannot be resolved by short-term large investments or safety management technologies alone. It requires enhancing the 'execution capability' of safety management and safety behavior within the organization. In particular, the perspective that views human factors as individual faults or mistakes must be changed. Mistakes are a natural characteristic of humans, and the possibility of accidents can be reduced only through execution capability that tracks and eliminates the likelihood of mistakes.
Executive Director Bae Chi-geun of Gaon Partners' Safety Business Division explained, "The subjects of mistakes include not only workers but also managers and executives. An approach that eliminates the possibility of mistakes from a human-centered perspective is necessary," adding, "The point of care (POC), where products, equipment, and people intersect and accidents occur, must be accurately recognized and managed by both individuals and organizations."
Gaon Partners' 'I-CARE (Individual Centered Action Reliability Enhancing)' is a behavioral reliability enhancement program that individuals and organizations execute together to eliminate error factors and prevent safety accidents. The core of I-CARE activities is to focus the capabilities of individuals and organizations on observing, avoiding, blocking, and eliminating the possibility of accidents at the individual level. To this end, it is promoted based on the 'TOIC (Think-Obey-Improve-Check)' cycle, which considers the unique work characteristics and environment of each individual.
The Think stage is the process of recognizing possible mistakes and risks during job performance, while the Obey stage is the process of finding rational and effective execution methods aimed at preventing mistakes. At this stage, rules and regulations that cannot be followed are discarded. Improve is a human factor-centered activity that actively reduces the possibility of mistakes in individual workplaces. In the final Check stage, obstacles to activities are removed, and it is confirmed whether the activities lead to continuous and concrete results. In fact, a steel structure manufacturer that had more than 10 serious accidents annually achieved three consecutive years of zero serious accidents through 10 months of I-CARE activities.
Kim Ki-hong, CEO of Gaon Partners, emphasized, "Although awareness of industrial safety has increased through the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, any measures must lead to a real reduction in industrial accidents," adding, "Rather than strong punishment, individuals and organizations must act together with one mind to eliminate human factors, which account for 80% of accident causes."
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