[Overlapping Penalties Shake Builders] UK "Unlimited Fines," Singapore's "Carrot and Stick"... A Look at Overseas Cases

In the construction industry, many argue that the United Kingdom and Singapore should be used as benchmarks to reduce the fatal accident rate at construction sites. In the United Kingdom, "unlimited fines" are possible, while Singapore has reduced its construction site fatality rate through a "carrot-and-stick" policy. In Germany, when a fatal accident occurs at an industrial site, the responsible manager or executive becomes a criminal defendant.

According to industry sources on February 23, the fatality rate in construction accidents in the United Kingdom is only 0.24 per 10,000 workers. This means there are fewer than one fatal on-site accident per 10,000 construction workers. The United Kingdom has enforced the Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Act since 2008. Its core is that when deaths occur due to industrial accidents or major disasters, criminal liability is imposed and unlimited fines can be levied on companies. In general, its purpose is similar to Korea's Serious Accidents Punishment Act, but its penalty structure is different. The Act allows corporations to be held criminally liable when deaths occur due to systematic or structural failures in safety management, but it does not punish the chief executive officer (CEO).

In the early 2000s, Singapore had frequent industrial accidents similar to Korea, but in 2005 it enacted the Workplace Safety and Health Act (WSH Act). It also launched the "WSH 2015" campaign, a long-term 10-year project designed to ensure that employers, workers, and managers share responsibility for safety. Rather than simply strengthening ex post punishment of business owners, Singapore operates both a "demerit point" system and a "bonus" system, providing both carrots and sticks at the same time.

Under the demerit point system, when an accident occurs at an industrial site, demerit points are imposed, and if the points exceed a certain threshold, sanctions such as banning the hiring of workers for a certain period are applied. If 25 demerit points or more are accumulated over 18 months, the company is barred from bidding for new public-sector projects for three months. Singapore also operates a "Business Under Surveillance (BUS)" program. Companies where safety accidents have occurred are placed on a list and monitored; they face restrictions on winning public works contracts and are disadvantaged in bidding for private construction projects as well. Through these measures, Singapore reduced the number of deaths per 100,000 workers from 4.9 in 2004 to 1.9 in 2015. By 2024, the figure had been lowered further to 1.2.

Germany, often cited as a safety leader, does not have a single law equivalent to the Serious Accidents Punishment Act. However, fatal accidents at industrial sites are treated as involuntary manslaughter under the Criminal Code, and the responsible manager or executive personally becomes a criminal defendant. Companies are subject to fines: up to 10 million euros (about 17 billion won) for intentional crimes and up to 5 million euros (about 8.5 billion won) for negligent crimes.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.