Nearly 10 Safety and Disaster Bills Proposed After Tragedy
Patchwork 'Pinset Amendments' Proliferate Rapidly
"Warning: Formalizing Popular Remedies More Dangerous"
After the lithium battery factory fire disaster in Hwaseong-si, Gyeonggi-do, a flood of patchwork-related bills has emerged. This represents a repeated pattern of so-called 'pinpoint amendments' that only address some problematic parts after an accident occurs. Experts point out that rather than focusing on competitive post-accident legislative proposals, it is necessary first to investigate the causes of the disaster and prepare fundamental countermeasures.
According to the National Assembly Legislative Information System on the 27th, a total of nine disaster, facility, and industrial safety-related bills were proposed in the National Assembly over four days from the 24th, when the disaster occurred, to the 27th. This accounts for 25% of the 36 safety and disaster-related bills proposed since the opening of the 22nd National Assembly on the 30th of last month.
On the day of the Hwaseong fire disaster, Kwon Young-se, a member of the People Power Party, took the lead in proposing the "Partial Amendment to the Special Act on Safety and Maintenance of Facilities." Kwon stated, "As various accidents related to facilities have recently occurred and aging facilities have increased, there is a need to advance the current facility safety management system."
However, the proposed amendments are generally quite marginal. For example, Article 12 (Implementation of Detailed Safety Inspections), Paragraph 1, includes expanding the scope of detailed safety inspections from the current "Type 1 facilities" to "Type 1 facilities and Type 2 facilities as defined by Presidential Decree." Article 3 stipulates the "responsibilities of the state, etc., regarding facility safety," and Paragraph 2 proposes changing the phrase "the management entity must take 'necessary' measures for facility safety" to "take necessary measures such as regular inspections and repairs for continuous management."
Democratic Party members Han Jeong-ae and Kim Young-jin each took the lead in proposing similar "Partial Amendments to the Industrial Safety and Health Act" on the 24th and 26th, the day of the accident and two days later, respectively. This means similar bills were consecutively proposed by the same party. Both bills pointed out the need to amend Article 56, Paragraph 1 (Investigation of Causes of Serious Accidents, etc.) of the Industrial Safety and Health Act. The current law stipulates that when a serious accident occurs, the Minister of Employment and Labor may conduct an investigation to determine the cause and establish preventive measures. To this end, support is provided by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, but the agency's delegated tasks do not include investigating the causes of serious accidents, limiting its activities. The bills aim to legally improve this limitation.
Experts warned that such post hoc symptomatic legislative measures are even more dangerous. Professor Lee Sam-yeol of the Department of Public Administration at Yonsei University said in a phone interview, "It is very inappropriate to establish legislation without fully understanding the facts of the accident." He added, "If there is legislation but the law was not followed, punishment should come first; if the law is insufficient, legislation is needed; if supervision was negligent, responsibility for supervisory negligence should be prioritized." He advised, "Legislation should be exercised appropriately and discerningly as a conservative means to solve problems fundamentally and structurally."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
