"Serious Accident Punishment Act Needs Revision, but Companies Also Strive to Establish Safety and Management Systems"

KCCI Holds 4th 'Serious Accident Prevention Industrial Safety Forum'
"Actively Communicating with New Government to Resolve Uncertainties in Serious Accident Act"

Lee Dong-geun, Vice Chairman of the Korea Employers Federation, is delivering a greeting at the 4th Industrial Safety Forum for Major Accident Prevention held on the 25th.

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo Hyun-seok] While the revision of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act is necessary, opinions have emerged that companies must also make efforts to establish safety and health management systems to prevent accidents.

The Korea Employers Federation announced on the 25th that it held the 4th "Industrial Safety Forum for Serious Accident Prevention" at the Seoul Press Center, with safety executives and experts from 21 major companies across various industries, including Samsung Electronics, Hyundai Motor Company, POSCO, and LG Chem.

The forum was held under the theme of response strategies following the enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. Professor Ham Byung-ho of Korea National University of Transportation explained, "It is true that the Serious Accidents Punishment Act requires improvements from legal and engineering perspectives," but added, "Since the law has been enacted, companies must thoroughly fulfill their obligations to establish safety and health management systems at the workplace."

Professor Ham stated, "All fatal accident cases occurred due to the absence of established safety and health management systems," and explained, "The Serious Accidents Punishment Act stipulates the obligation for companies to establish such systems to prevent these accidents. If companies utilize the PDCA (Plan, Do, Check, Act) cycle to regularly evaluate the adequacy of accident prevention activities and monitor the performance of safety and health management systems, they will be able to adequately respond to serious accidents."

Attendees are listening to presentations at the 4th Industrial Safety Forum for Major Accident Prevention held by the Korea Employers Federation on the 25th.

POSCO presented a case study. To enhance the safety capabilities of employees from affiliated companies working at its steelworks, POSCO supports mobile safety buses and modular housing as rest and training facilities. Additionally, it plans to establish an integrated safety management platform for both direct operations and affiliated companies to support the establishment and implementation of safety and health management systems at affiliated companies.

POSCO explained, "To build a workplace without safety blind spots, we are expanding smart infrastructure such as portable CCTV and body cams," and added, "We are also making generous investments in developing smart safety technologies, including the Smart Safety Ball, which can monitor the inside of confined spaces."

Lee Dong-geun, Vice Chairman of the Korea Employers Federation, emphasized, "Ensuring workplace safety is difficult to achieve solely through strict regulations or punishments, and strong safety leadership and increased investment from management are also important," but stressed, "Without the participation and cooperation of middle managers who supervise and perform tasks, as well as frontline workers, establishing a safety culture at the workplace will be difficult."

He said, "It is a desirable direction that the new government has selected national tasks to strengthen industrial accident prevention through support for the establishment of autonomous safety management systems by companies and to reduce actual fatal accidents," and added, "We will continue to actively express opinions to ensure that the government's industrial accident prevention policies are well implemented in the field." He further stated, "We will actively communicate with the new government to resolve uncertainties in the industrial field caused by ambiguous provisions and excessive punishments under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act."