[ChamTrue?] Do Advanced Countries with Low Industrial Accident Penalties Have Fewer Deaths?

"Despite the relatively low severity of penalties for industrial accident deaths, it is necessary to explore the desirable direction for Korea's industrial accident prevention administrative system by understanding the actual conditions of major advanced countries with low proportions of fatal accidents."

This was mentioned in the report titled 'Problems and Reform Directions of Korea's Industrial Accident Prevention Administrative System Based on Cases from Major Advanced Countries,' released by the Korea Employers Federation (KEF) on the 19th. The report suggests that compared to overseas, Korea's Serious Accidents Punishment Act imposes excessively harsh penalties, and that the industrial accident prevention effect of 'private sector-led' safety management is actually greater.

The report defines the United Kingdom, Germany, the United States, and Japan as major advanced countries and examines whether their penalty levels are higher than Korea's. Article 6 of Korea's Serious Accidents Punishment Act stipulates that employers or management responsible for safety and health who violate obligations necessary for accident prevention and cause a serious industrial accident resulting in one or more deaths shall be punished by imprisonment for at least one year or a fine of up to 1 billion KRW. Overseas, it is difficult to find cases where a minimum statutory penalty is set for management punishment regulations.

The UK has shifted to a corporate autonomous responsibility management system, Germany has reformed its legal system to establish autonomous industrial accident prevention activities by companies, the US has developed safety and health standards suitable for industry characteristics using private standards, and Japan is promoting a policy focused on proactive prevention.

It is true that the regulatory approaches of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, which has strong penalties, and the major advanced countries selected by KEF differ. However, when examining the private sector-led safety management content implemented in these countries, it can be confirmed that regulations as strict as those in Korea are in place.

In Germany, an industrial safety management organization called the 'Accident Insurance Association' operates. Each association independently determines tasks such as industrial accident prevention, rehabilitation, and compensation. At the same time, the association is composed equally of labor union and management representatives, ensuring that workers' opinions are equally reflected. Representatives from the Accident Insurance Association, state government, and companies conduct thorough safety inspections at construction sites twice a month.

The UK is strict on industrial accidents to the extent that it enacted the 'Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act' in 2007, which applies murder charges when a fatal accident occurs at an industrial site. Above all, the UK is known for prosecuting all parties from primary contractors to subcontractors whenever a company is responsible for an industrial accident. Since 1974, the UK's Health and Safety Executive, the industrial accident supervisory agency, has had prosecutorial authority. Japan punishes negligence in accident prevention with imprisonment of up to six months under the Labor Safety and Health Act. Additionally, primary contractors who fail to prevent fatal accidents face social stigma to the extent that they cannot win public construction contracts.

The US provides detailed criteria for recording industrial accidents but does not have strong regulations. Regulations vary by state, making standardization difficult. The problem is that the US is one of the advanced countries where fatal accidents at industrial sites occur relatively frequently. As of 2019, the US accident fatality rate (number of fatal accidents per 10,000 workers) was 0.37. In the same year, Korea's rate was 0.46, the UK's was 0.03, and Japan's was 0.14. According to the International Labour Organization, as of 2018, the US fatality rate per 100,000 people was 5.3, higher than Korea's 4.6 in 2019.

What about other advanced countries not selected by KEF? Australia and Canada, which have low industrial accident fatalities, have strong state-led regulatory systems that punish management when serious accidents occur. Australia imposes imprisonment of up to 20 years and fines up to 320,000 Australian dollars on employers and senior managers through the Industrial Manslaughter Act. Canada applies criminal law and imposes penalties as severe as life imprisonment for fatal industrial accidents.