[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government has been criticized for failing to properly recruit the necessary industrial accident practitioners to reduce fatal industrial accidents. It has been pointed out that no practitioners responsible for industrial accident statistics have been recruited in the past three years.
At the Ministry of Economy and Finance's audit by the National Assembly's Planning and Finance Committee on the 20th, Yong Hyein, a member of the Basic Income Party, demanded that the Ministry actively reflect manpower and budget for industrial accident prevention, industrial accident statistics preparation, and industrial accident judgment and compensation work.
According to Representative Yong, the Ministry of Economy and Finance had zero personnel recruitment over three years. The Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service's requested amounts related to industrial accident statistics were 2.76 billion KRW last year, 1.262 billion KRW this year, and 2.364 billion KRW next year, but the actual budget allocations were reduced to 2.733 billion KRW last year, 1.222 billion KRW this year, and 760 million KRW next year.
This situation is likely to cause difficulties in producing industrial accident-related statistics that have caused social controversies, such as those involving delivery workers and security guards. It is also expected to be difficult to grasp industrial accidents involving fishermen and public officials, which are not included in official statistics.
Support for practitioners handling civil complaints has also decreased. In the case of the Industrial Accident Disease Judgment Committee (Jilpanwi) of the Korea Workers' Compensation and Welfare Service, which determines whether workers have occupational diseases such as death from overwork, musculoskeletal disorders, or occupational cancer, only 5 out of 31 requested personnel (16%) were recruited last year, 0 out of 61 (0%) this year, and 20 out of 146 (14%) next year.
With the recent surge in industrial accident and death from overwork applications, the role of Jilpanwi is also increasing. The number of reviews in 2019 was 1,517, double the 723 cases in 2017. The number of judgments also nearly doubled from 8,715 cases in 2017 to 14,206 cases in 2019.
The extension of industrial accident processing deadlines may delay compensation for workers who have suffered industrial accidents. Representative Yong said, "Industrial accident prevention projects, poor industrial accident statistics, and endless industrial accident processing deadlines have not been improved," and added, "The Ministry of Economy and Finance should uphold the labor-management-government agreement for industrial accident prevention and support the manpower and budget necessary for industrial accident statistics and industrial accident judgment and compensation work."
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