Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) said on the 12th that, together with KB Financial Group, it selected 50 supplier corporations to take part in the "SME industrial safety infrastructure support program."
The program will provide a total of 3.3 billion won in support to corporations that possess key technologies to prevent industrial accidents such as fires, entanglement, collisions, and falls, as well as safety goods manufacturers and education and consulting corporations.
In particular, the two institutions strengthened region-centered support in line with the government's balanced regional development policy by selecting more than half of the corporations chosen as those located outside the capital area.
The selected supplier corporations will provide tailored safety improvements to matched SME worksites, including supplying safety products, on-site inspections, consulting, and training.
A performance-based social contribution model will also be applied to this program. Key performance indicators (KPI) will be set for each supplier corporation, such as the number of risk-factor improvements in manufacturing sites, provision of protective equipment, and behavior correction, and follow-up support will be provided based on the results of work environment improvements at demand-side corporations. The explanation is that this will concentrate support on corporations for which actual industrial accident prevention effects have been confirmed.
More than 100 corporations applied to this supplier recruitment, and Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME) plans to evaluate the program's performance in Jul. and carry out a second round of support in the second half for outstanding corporations.
Kang Seok-jin, chair of Korea SMEs and Startups Agency (KOSME), said, "Safety at SME worksites is a core element for sustainable growth," and added, "We will support the fostering of SMEs with safety technologies and the advancement of safety management systems at worksites."