The Democratic Party of Korea is pushing to revise the law to allow the imposition of a penalty surcharge of up to 5% of operating profit on business owners at sites where worker fatal accidents have repeatedly occurred.
On the 17th, the Democratic Party's task force (TF) on industrial accident prevention released its legislative agenda to be handled during this year's regular National Assembly session. It is a follow-up to the comprehensive worker safety measures released by the party and the government in September. The TF decided to prioritize seven of the 17 items in the comprehensive measures announced at the time, including amendments to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, and the Employment and Industrial Accident Insurance Premium Collection Act.
First, a penalty surcharge system for employers over worker fatal accidents will be established. If three or more workers have died within the past year due to violations of safety and health measures, a penalty surcharge will be imposed within 5% of corporations' operating profit, depending on the number of deaths and the frequency of occurrence. As for the lower limit of the penalty surcharge, the plan is to address it during the bill review process.
It will also push to amend the law to have a workers' representative serve as an "honorary industrial safety inspector" who directly oversees violations at business sites. The workers' representative will recommend honorary inspectors from among the workers of the establishment to which the representative belongs.
A reward program for reports to create safer workplaces will also be established. Those who report violations of industrial safety regulations may be awarded rewards within the budget.
The introduction of a disclosure system for safety and health will also be pursued. It would impose an obligation on business owners and heads of public institutions to disclose matters related to safety and health, such as the occurrence of industrial accidents. The safety and health management system, the scale of safety and health investment, industrial accident occurrence status, and measures to prevent recurrence will be included in the disclosures.
In addition, it will push measures including: ▲ disclosure of accident investigation reports containing causes of accidents and measures to prevent recurrence ▲ sanctions for violating obligations to conduct risk assessments and ensure worker participation ▲ a bill to establish a Safe Workplace Committee to deliberate on basic plans for industrial accident prevention and major safety and health policies.
The Democratic Party plans to pass the related amendment bills at a plenary session of the National Assembly during this year's regular session. Kim Ju-young, the TF Director General, said, "We will do our best to handle what was released today within this regular session."