Korea Federation of SMEs and Korea Employers Federation Conduct Perception Survey of 1,035 Companies
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung] One year after the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act, more than 70% of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) still lack the capacity to respond effectively.
The Korea Federation of SMEs and the Korea Employers Federation announced on the 22nd the results of a "Corporate Awareness Survey on the Enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act," conducted on 1,035 companies with five or more employees (947 SMEs and 88 large enterprises).
The Serious Accident Punishment Act, which has been in effect since January 27 of this year, stipulates that if an industrial accident such as a worker's death occurs at workplaces with 50 or more regular employees (or construction sites with a project amount of 5 billion KRW or more), the business owner or management responsible who fails to fulfill the obligation to prevent the accident may face imprisonment for more than one year or a fine of up to 1 billion KRW.
It was found that 65.6% of SMEs still do not fully understand the obligations under the Serious Accident Punishment Act, and only 34.4% responded that they are fully aware of all the obligations.
77% of SMEs answered that their capacity to respond to the Serious Accident Punishment Act is "insufficient," while only 11.5% responded that their capacity is "sufficient."
The main reason for the lack of response capacity was "lack of professional personnel (47.6%)," followed by "ambiguity of the law itself (25.2%)" and "excessive cost burden (24.9%)."
80.3% of SMEs evaluated that the Serious Accident Punishment Act "needs improvement," while only 10.5% responded that "improvement is not necessary."
Regarding specific directions for improvement, the survey showed "abolition of the law and unification under the Industrial Safety and Health Act (42.2%)," "clarification of the law (33.9%)," and "relaxation of punishment levels (20.4%)" in that order.
The application of the Serious Accident Punishment Act to small workplaces with fewer than 50 employees has been deferred until January 26, 2024. Most of these SMEs (93.8%) believe that "extension of the deferral period or exemption from application" is necessary.
Lee Myung-ro, Head of the Smart Job Division at the Korea Federation of SMEs, emphasized, "To prevent the creation of lawbreakers due to excessive application of the law, the deferral period should be extended, and government support for labor costs of professional personnel and facility improvement expenses should be expanded."
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