The government will simplify the procedures for handling industrial accidents related to occupational diseases. Until now, it took an average of about 228 days for an occupational disease industrial accident to be determined as 'approved', but it has decided to shorten this to 120 days by 2027.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced the 'Plan to Shorten Processing Time for Industrial Accidents Related to Occupational Diseases' on the 1st. Occupational diseases refer to ailments that occur when workers are exposed to harmful or dangerous factors during the performance of their duties, or when their bodies are under strain due to noise, repetitive tasks, etc.
Currently, in order for the injured party to receive approval for an industrial accident due to occupational disease, they must undergo a certain review by the Occupational Disease Determination Committee under the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service (K-COMWEL). At this time, special examinations and epidemiological investigations are conducted to confirm the work-related nature of the disease, and there have been persistent criticisms that the processing of industrial accidents has been delayed due to many redundant procedures in this process.
The average processing time for occupational disease industrial accidents was 227.7 days last year, with some cases taking as long as 4 years. Compared to an average of 172.4 days in 2020, the time taken to process disease accidents has increased by 32% over the past four years. As a result, 149 workers have died waiting for approval of their industrial accidents in the past five years (2020-2024).
To improve this situation, the Ministry of Employment and Labor has decided to waive the 'special examination' procedure for 32 job categories, including environmental sanitation workers, interior carpenters, and heavy goods delivery personnel. Since 'musculoskeletal diseases' account for 51% of all occupational diseases, job categories where a significant causal relationship between the disease and work has been recognized were selected.
Without a special examination, the approval for industrial accidents will be determined solely based on the factual investigation of the accident and the review by the committee. Currently, the additional average time taken for a special examination is 166.3 days. The Ministry plans to expand the target to include job categories suggested on-site in the construction industry, such as system scaffolders and waterproof workers, by gathering opinions from labor, management, and experts.
For diseases caused by harmful substances in business sites where the work-relatedness can be confirmed through sufficient research and investigation, processing of industrial accidents will be possible without an 'epidemiological investigation', which currently takes an average of 604.4 days. Conditions such as primary lung cancer among mining workers, leukemia among semiconductor manufacturing workers, and lung cancer caused by exposure to cooking fumes among mass catering cooks can now undergo reviews for work-relatedness at the committee after an accident investigation by the service without an epidemiological investigation.
To strengthen the accident investigation function, the Ministry of Employment and Labor will establish 'special teams for occupational diseases' at all 64 agencies affiliated with the Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service (K-COMWEL) and enhance the expertise of personnel to improve speed and fairness. Additionally, by the end of this year, a 'concentrated processing period' will be implemented to focus on resolving currently long-pending special examination and epidemiological investigation cases.
Next year, there are plans to introduce a 'public defender system' that will provide free legal services to injured workers from the application for industrial accidents to objections against denials.