[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyung-min] As the Serious Accidents Punishment Act (Serious Accidents Punishment Act) marks its first anniversary on the 27th, 'expert training' programs are being operated in universities, attracting attention from the legal and industrial sectors.
According to the industry on the 20th, many universities have recently created and are operating undergraduate and graduate programs that focus on intensive training of experts, reflecting the voices of the industry calling for the need to nurture experts on the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. Yonsei University, Korea University of Technology and Education, Kyungbok University, and Soongsil Cyber University are representative examples.
Yonsei University established the 'Serious Accidents Punishment Act Expert Course' at its Graduate School of Law in September last year. It recently completed the first training course and is recruiting for the second. During the first course, many participants such as Chief Safety Officers (CSO), Chief Executive Officers (CEO), and members of legal teams from companies took part, receiving a great response.
Professor Lee Seung-jun of Yonsei University Law School said, "The purpose of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act is not only about punishment but also about preventing and reducing serious accidents," adding, "The series of efforts to nurture experts on the Serious Accidents Punishment Act will provide practical measures to help companies reduce industrial accidents."
The background behind the demand for experts and the universities' efforts to nurture them seems to lie in the ambiguity of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. Although the law has been in effect since January 27 last year and is approaching its first anniversary, there are still differing interpretations in the field regarding the extent of punishment for on-site managers, CSOs, CEOs, etc., when serious accidents occur. The court rulings over the past year have also varied. Many stakeholders on-site are still not fully aware of the law's contents.
Recently, the Korea Federation of Small and Medium Business, together with the Korea Employers Federation, surveyed 947 small and medium-sized enterprises with five or more employees on their 'awareness of the implementation of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.' The results showed that 65.6% of small and medium enterprises still 'do not know well' about the obligations under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. The safety sensitivity of our society toward serious industrial accidents is still low. According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the scale of serious accidents in Korea ranked 34th out of 38 OECD countries as of 2021, comparable to the UK in the 1970s and Germany and Japan in the 1990s.
The resulting anxiety and concerns seem to have driven companies toward universities. The 'expert courses' on the Serious Accidents Punishment Act within universities are expected to increase and expand in the future. A legal sector official said, "Law firms frequently hold related seminars, and many books related to the Serious Accidents Punishment Act are being published these days," adding, "Just as MBA programs for training professional managers once became popular in universities, courses on the Serious Accidents Punishment Act are likely to gradually increase."
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