Party and Government "Reducing Serious Accidents to OECD Level by 2026" (Comprehensive)

Sung Il-jong, Chairman of the Policy Committee of the People Power Party, is attending the 'Serious Accident Act Reduction Roadmap' party-government consultation held at the National Assembly on the 28th and delivering opening remarks. 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 to reduce serious accidents, agreeing to reduce serious accidents to the average level of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) by 2026.

Seong Il-jong, chairman of the People Power Party Policy Committee, said to reporters after the party-government consultation at the National Assembly, "We aim to achieve a serious accident fatality rate (number of deaths per 10,000 people) of 0.29 per mil, which is the level of advanced countries, by 2026." This is based on the recognition that although South Korea's serious accident fatality rate has decreased from 1.24 per mil in 2002 to 0.43 per mil, it is still higher than the OECD average of 38 countries.

They decided to introduce self-regulation instead of regulations and penalties. Chairman Seong said, "We will change the current labor policy, which is centered on regulations and penalties, to a self-regulation system," adding, "Unless both employers and workers shift the paradigm to prevention-centered and self-regulation-centered approaches, the accident rate cannot be lowered."

Additionally, in the public sector, they requested that safety budgets be allocated to subcontractors according to the designed amounts rather than through bidding, and especially in the small and medium-sized enterprises in construction and manufacturing sectors, they plan to support smart safety equipment facilities such as AI cameras and wearable devices.

Im Yi-ja, the ruling party's floor leader on the National Assembly's Environment and Labor Committee, emphasized, "During President Yoon Seok-yeol's administration, we promise the public to reduce serious industrial accidents to the level of advanced countries and will make every effort at the party level," adding, "To this end, all ruling party members of the Environment and Labor Committee will participate, and other standing committees related to industrial accidents will also join to form and support the operation of a serious accident reduction task force (TF)."

Lee Jeong-sik, Minister of Employment and Labor, who attended representing the government, said, "The roadmap to reduce serious accidents is the top national agenda of the Yoon Seok-yeol administration," adding, "Advanced countries that have considered this issue before us recognized that it is difficult to effectively reduce serious accidents solely through stringent government regulations, and established an autonomous self-regulation prevention system through voluntary efforts by labor and management to prevent accidents and achieved reduction results."