Safety and Health Leaders Take Action... 'On-Site Management' to Break the Link to Fatal Accidents in Shipbuilding Industry

KOSHA: "Preventing Industrial Accidents and Protecting Foreign Workers"

On-site Safety Inspections and Listening to Difficulties in Employing Foreign Workers

In order to prevent industrial accidents in the shipbuilding industry, leaders in occupational safety and health have visited shipbuilding sites.

Ahn Jongju, President of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, and Gong Heungdu, Head of the Busan Regional Headquarters, visited three small and medium-sized shipyards in Busan on the 12th to conduct safety inspections and on-site safety management activities.

The sites visited for on-site management that day were Daesun Shipbuilding, Sunbo Unitech, and Orient Shipbuilding.

According to the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, various indicators such as the order volume in Korea's shipbuilding industry have improved since last year, and the industry is showing world-class competitiveness in high value-added and eco-friendly ships.

However, there are growing concerns about fatal accidents involving workers behind this progress.

In particular, as the government has promoted the Employment Permit System to address labor shortages at industrial sites, the employment of foreign workers in the shipbuilding industry has also increased, and accordingly, fatal industrial accidents are also on the rise.

On this day, the agency focused on activities to strengthen the on-site effectiveness of industrial accident prevention projects by inspecting the establishment of self-regulatory prevention systems at worksites, which is a key aspect of the government's roadmap to reduce serious accidents, and by checking the employment status of foreign workers.

In addition, Ahn Jongju and others listened to on-site difficulties related to the expanded enforcement of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and the employment of foreign workers.

Ahn stated, "The agency will continue to actively support the strengthening of safety capabilities at small and medium-sized shipbuilding businesses, which often lack safety management capacity, and ensure the occupational safety and health of foreign workers when promoting industrial accident prevention projects."

He also added, "We hope that workplaces will continue to pay close attention to ensuring the safety of their employees and take special care to prevent foreign workers from being exposed to dangerous environments."

An Jongju, President of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, and Gong Heungdu, Head of the Busan Headquarters, visited shipyards in the Busan area on the 12th to promote on-site safety management.