Party and Government Discuss Major Accident Reduction Roadmap... "Paradigm Shift for Substantial Safety"

Sung Il-jong, Chairman of the Policy Committee of the People Power Party, is delivering opening remarks at the 'Serious Accident Act Reduction Roadmap' party-government consultation held at the National Assembly on the 28th. Photo by Yoon Dong-joo doso7@

[Asia Economy reporters Lee Ji-eun and Kwon Hyun-ji] On the 28th, the People Power Party and the Ministry of Employment and Labor held a party-government meeting regarding the roadmap for reducing serious industrial accidents.

Seong Il-jong, the Policy Committee Chairman of the People Power Party, said in his opening remarks, "The party and government have set a goal to reduce serious industrial accidents by 2026 according to the standards of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), and we will discuss measures to reduce serious industrial accidents." He added, "In particular, we will seek budget and safety education support measures that the government can provide, including fundamental paradigm changes that can create practical safety at the workplace."

He stated, "Although the fatal accident rate in our country has decreased to one-third over the past 20 years, it still ranks 34th out of 38 OECD countries, which is a high level. We will thoroughly examine what is lacking and what is needed in the current legal system and support necessary areas such as legislation and budget."

Im Eui-ja, the ruling party secretary of the National Assembly’s Environment and Labor Committee, said, "During President Yoon Seok-yeol’s term, we promise the public to reduce serious industrial accidents to the level of advanced countries, and the party will make every effort to achieve this." She emphasized, "To this end, all ruling party members of the Environment and Labor Committee will participate, and a Serious Accident Reduction Task Force (TF) will be formed and supported, including other standing committees related to industrial accidents."

Attending on behalf of the government, Lee Jeong-sik, Minister of Employment and Labor, said, "The roadmap for reducing serious industrial accidents is the top priority national agenda of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration. Advanced countries that have considered this issue before us recognized that it is difficult to effectively reduce serious industrial accidents solely through detailed government regulations, and they established a voluntary self-regulation prevention system through the voluntary efforts of labor and management to prevent accidents and achieved reduction results."

He added, "Now, we also intend to shift the paradigm to a self-regulation prevention system where labor and management jointly identify risk factors themselves and establish and implement improvement measures, rather than relying on regulations and punishments."

The agenda to be discussed on this day is the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s roadmap for reducing serious industrial accidents, which will be announced on the 30th. The party and government held a closed consultation on this day and plan to disclose the results.