President Lee Defines Cost-Cutting Accidents as "Murder by Willful Negligence, Social Homicide"
Government Policy Acceleration Expected, with Focus on Strengthening Primary Contractors' Responsibility
President Lee's Messages Grow More Resolute Amid Series of Industrial Accidents
Orders Consideration of Legislative Amendments for Stronger Response
The government's policies aimed at preventing industrial accidents are expected to become clearer and accelerate further. The government plans to strengthen the actual responsibility of primary contractors as a core measure, while simultaneously reforming the system to create a cost structure in which accidents immediately translate into losses. This approach is intended to concentrate responsibility, which has been dispersed through multi-layered subcontracting and the outsourcing of risk, at the ordering and primary contractor stages. Additionally, the government is expected to revise contract practices to require mandatory budgeting for safety expenses by work process.
On August 12, President Lee Jaemyung delivered a strong message during a cabinet meeting before receiving reports from relevant ministries on industrial accidents. He declared, "If necessary, I will ensure that we break free from the backward 'industrial accident republic,' even if it means amending related laws." President Lee also instructed ministries to consider permanently disqualifying companies responsible for serious accidents from public tenders, imposing financial sanctions and fines, and introducing substantial rewards for reporting unsafe workplaces. In particular, he urged Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Younghoon to "approach this with the resolve to stake your position." Effectively, President Lee has declared a 'war on industrial accidents.'
The president's messages regarding industrial accidents have grown increasingly resolute with each cabinet meeting. At the previous day's meeting, President Lee stated, "There are too many deaths in Korea. The workplace, where people go to earn a living, must never become a place of death." He further asserted, "Cutting costs by neglecting safety measures, resulting in the loss of life, constitutes a form of murder by willful negligence and social homicide." He ordered that any work carried out without necessary safety measures at industrial sites must be "strictly stopped."
The reason behind President Lee's increasingly firm stance is the repeated deaths of workers at industrial sites. Starting with the death of a worker during a manhole operation early last month, there have been five fatal industrial accidents that President Lee has directly or indirectly addressed. Despite issuing instructions for countermeasures to relevant ministries during live cabinet broadcasts, another fatality occurred when a worker fell at a new apartment construction site in Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province. As a result, immediately after returning from his summer vacation on August 9, President Lee ordered, "Establish a system that allows for the immediate reporting of all fatal industrial accidents."
In line with President Lee's determination, legislative tasks under consideration include amendments to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, the National Contracts Act, and laws related to the construction industry. The government is expected to clarify the legal basis for restricting public procurement tenders, increasing fines, and imposing financial sanctions, as well as institutionalizing repeated and aggravated sanctions for 'workplaces with frequent accidents.' At the same time, to avoid controversy over excessive regulation, the government may review ways to further specify punishment criteria and application procedures, thereby enhancing predictability.
On-site responses are also expected to be strengthened. Work lacking adequate safety measures will be immediately suspended, and special inspections will be conducted on a regular basis to proactively check high-risk processes such as falls, entrapment, and suffocation. Accident and risk data will be accumulated by industry and region for targeted inspections, and expanding the mandatory application of digital safety management tools, such as CCTV and sensor data, is under consideration. In addition, the government plans to establish a multi-layered monitoring system by introducing a program that provides substantial rewards for reporting unsafe workplaces.
Meanwhile, following President Lee's directive for strong measures to prevent industrial accidents, investigations by the police and the Ministry of Employment and Labor have accelerated. In connection with the recent electrocution accident involving a Myanmar worker at a highway construction site overseen by POSCO E&C, the police and labor ministry launched a compulsory investigation-eight days after the incident. More than 70 personnel were mobilized for an 11-hour search and seizure operation at POSCO E&C's headquarters, as well as at the headquarters of subcontractor LT Sambo and supervisory firm Kyungho Engineering.
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