Autonomous Checklists by Industry Rolled Out Just Before Enforcement of Serious Accident Punishment Act... Including Waste Disposal Industry

Ministry of Employment Distributes Self-Inspection Checklists for Waste Disposal, Warehousing, and Transportation Industries

Key Items Include CEO Leadership and On-Site Worker Participation
Also Covers Hazardous Machines and Tasks Such as Crushers and Freight Elevators

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] The government announced that it will distribute self-inspection checklists for safety and health management, focusing on high-risk industries, about a month before the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act. Waste disposal and warehouse and transportation industries, which are evaluated as high-risk industries, are the first targets.

On the 29th, the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency announced plans to create industry-specific safety and health management system self-inspection checklists and distribute them to companies related to waste disposal, warehouse, and transportation industries starting from the 30th. Following the distribution of the 'Safety and Health Management System Guidebook' in August, the provision of self-diagnosis checklists for all manufacturing workplaces with 50 to 299 workers in September, and the distribution of the 'Small and Medium Enterprise Safety and Health Management System Self-Inspection Checklist' last month, this time they decided to circulate customized checklists by industry.

The checklist consists of inspection items by seven core elements and detailed inspection items by risk factors. Inspection items by core elements include 'firm leadership of the CEO,' 'participation of on-site workers,' 'identification and control of risk factors,' 'ensuring safety and health during subcontracting and outsourcing,' and 'emergency response plans.'

The detailed inspection items present specific measures to control major risk factors such as hazardous machinery, harmful agents, and dangerous tasks that must be managed in the respective industries. For example, the waste disposal industry checklist requires recording related tasks such as shredders or crushers, grapplers (grapple cranes), and waste collection vehicles (compactor trucks). The warehouse and transportation industry checklist requires noting related tasks such as freight elevators, cold storage, forklifts, industrial robots, and two-wheeled vehicles.

Kwon Kisub, Director of the Occupational Safety and Health Headquarters, said, "The industry-specific self-inspection checklists will continue to be produced and distributed, expanding the target mainly to high-risk industries. If workplaces utilize these well ahead of the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act on January 27 next year, it will greatly help establish and implement an autonomous safety management system."

The Ministry of Employment and Labor plans to upload this checklist on its website and actively guide companies through local employment and labor offices, frontline institutions of the agency, private accident prevention organizations, the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, and the Korea Construction Resources Association, among other related organizations.