Gwangju Chamber of Commerce and Industry to Recruit Five More Companies for Safety Management Support Program

Exterior view of Gwangju Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

The Gwangju Chamber of Commerce and Industry announced on July 28 that it will recruit an additional five companies to participate in the "Joint Safety Manager Support Program" aimed at preventing serious industrial accidents in small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

This program, supported by the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, assists SMEs in reducing industrial accidents and establishing safety and health management systems. The Gwangju Chamber of Commerce and Industry has been commissioned to operate the program and is currently supporting ten SMEs.

The program targets SMEs with 5 to 49 employees located in the Gwangju and Jeonnam regions. Due to growing concerns over recent industrial accidents and the increasing issue of safety insensitivity, five additional companies will be selected on a first-come, first-served basis for support.

For participating companies, a joint safety manager with experience in industrial safety management will visit the workplace at least once a month to conduct safety management consulting, which includes identifying accident risk factors through risk assessments. Each workplace will also be required to designate a safety manager, and training will be provided to ensure they have the necessary competencies to perform their duties.

Kim Eunhee, Director of the Membership Business Division, emphasized, "As the Serious Accident Punishment Act is now being applied to workplaces with fewer than 50 employees, this program will be of great help to SMEs struggling to establish safety and health management systems due to a lack of personnel and budget. We will actively support not only formal safety inspections but also the practical elimination of risk factors and the improvement of workers' safety awareness."