South Korea’s National Assembly has passed an amendment to the Occupational Safety and Health Act aimed at strengthening the roles of labor and management in preventing industrial accidents. The amendment, approved in plenary session on October 1, introduces a joint safety policy body, expands work-stoppage rights, creates stronger penalties for repeated fatal accidents and establishes a basis for reporting rewards.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor said the new framework is intended to give workers a clearer legal right to stop and evacuate when they face an imminent danger or a credible concern about safety. Workers, employee representatives and honorary safety inspectors will be able to request a work stoppage from an employer. Subcontracted workers will also be able to make that request directly to the principal contractor.
The amendment also broadens the conditions under which the labor minister may order work to stop. The authority will apply not only after a serious accident, but also when a worker is unconscious after an accident or when the worker’s survival is uncertain. An employer that has received a corrective order, such as an order to install safety railings, will be barred from resuming work if the order remains incomplete and an urgent danger persists.
- Safety Workplace Committee
- To be created within the labor ministry three months after promulgation
- Repeated fatal accidents
- A surcharge of up to 5% of operating profit may apply in specified cases
- Major work-stoppage provisions
- Scheduled to take effect six months after promulgation
- Safety certification exemption
- Expanded exemption takes effect on the date of promulgation
A Safety Workplace Committee will be established within the ministry three months after promulgation. It will include representatives of labor and management, safety and health experts, and the labor minister as chair, with no more than 20 members. The committee will review major occupational safety policies, including basic plans for accident prevention, and provide a standing channel for tripartite discussion.
The law will also allow a surcharge of up to 5% of operating profit when an employer violates specified safety duties and at least three workers die in industrial accidents within one year. The surcharge will be directed to the industrial accident insurance fund for prevention work. Other provisions address possible cancellation of business registration after repeated fatal-accident penalties, expanded safety-management cost accounting in construction, explicit recognition of heat waves and cold spells as grounds for extending construction schedules, rewards for reporting violations and wider exemptions from safety certification for equipment imported for export purposes. Several major provisions will take effect three or six months after promulgation, while the expanded certification exemption takes effect immediately.