KCCI Hosts Industrial Safety Forum on Major Accident Prevention "Regulations Alone Are Ineffective"

Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering and Kia Present Cases on Major Accident Prevention

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Je-hoon] The Korea Employers Federation announced on the 17th that it held the 1st Industrial Safety Forum for Major Accident Prevention at the Lotte Hotel in Jung-gu, Seoul, with safety executives from 20 companies across various industries and experts from academia participating.

Lee Dong-geun, Vice Chairman of the Korea Employers Federation, said in his greeting, "Many legislative and policy efforts by the government and the National Assembly to reduce fatal accidents have mostly focused on strengthening corporate responsibility and penalties, but there seems to be no clear effect in reducing industrial accident incidents," adding, "It is necessary to strengthen the roles of labor, management, and government in major accident prevention and to improve effective and rational industrial safety policies and legal systems."

The 1st forum was held under the theme of "The Serious Accident Punishment Act and the Establishment of Safety and Health Management Systems," featuring a presentation by Kwon Ki-seop, Director of the Occupational Safety and Health Headquarters at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, followed by a presentation on "Corporate Response Cases for Major Accident Prevention." Daewoo Shipbuilding & Marine Engineering, which presented the cases, introduced ▲ the introduction of a safety certification system for partner companies' safety independence and ▲ Daewoo Shipbuilding's specialized employee safety care and guardian activities, while Kia introduced ▲ the reorganization of the integrated safety environment management system and ▲ the latest accident prevention equipment using smart technology (Boston Dynamics' "Spot").

However, these companies stated, "Despite extensive preparations before the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act, there is still confusion due to ambiguous legal interpretations," and added, "We hope the government will establish reasonable principles for law application and help the Serious Accident Punishment Act settle in the field through appropriate corporate support."

Meanwhile, the Industrial Safety Forum will be held every two months, selecting various tasks such as workplace management measures for major accident prevention and improvements in occupational health policies for continued discussion.

A Korea Employers Federation official said, "Through the operation of the Industrial Safety Forum, we will actively share excellent safety management cases between industries that have lacked exchange so far and strive to strengthen workplace safety and health capabilities," adding, "We will actively convey the difficulties and demands of the industrial field regarding the Serious Accident Punishment Act and reasonable improvement plans to the government and the National Assembly."