Bae, Kim & Lee LLC (BKL) is strengthening its serious accidents response unit by recruiting experts from investigative agencies, the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL), and the industrial safety and disaster fields in quick succession.
This follows the expansion of the scope of corporations' responses in serious accident cases, from accident prevention and building safety and health management systems to immediate on-site response after an accident, Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) investigations, police and prosecutors' probes, and civil and criminal disputes.
BKL created an industrial safety task force (TF) in 2015 and expanded and reorganized it into the "serious accidents response headquarters" in 2021. The headquarters handles building safety and health management systems, on-site accident response, and responses to administrative measures, investigations, and litigation. It also operates a situation room system that deploys an on-site response team when an accident occurs.
In the labor administration field, former Vice Minister Park Hwa-jin of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) joined BKL last year. Adviser Park previously served as director general for labor policy at the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) and as Vice Minister, and at BKL provides advice on HR and labor and serious accidents response.
In the industrial safety field, adviser Song Guk-il, who handled large serious accident investigations at the Central Accident Investigation Unit of the Korea Occupational Safety & Health Agency (KOSHA), has joined. Based on experience in investigating industrial accident causes, safety diagnostics, and risk assessments, Adviser Song is carrying out industrial safety consulting and serious accidents response work.
Adviser Oh Byung-kwon, who served as head of the Natural Disaster Bureau at the Ministry of the Interior and Safety and as the first vice governor for administration of Gyeonggi Province, was also recruited this year. Adviser Oh supports responses related to disasters and safety, local administration, and regulations concerning the environment and construction.
Last year, BKL brought in Yoon Myung-o, an emeritus professor at the University of Seoul and a firefighting and disaster prevention expert, and launched the "disaster safety strategy institute." The institute links the legal, administrative, and technical fields in the prevention and response processes for complex disasters such as fires and natural disasters.
In the criminal and investigation field, attorney Lee Hee-dong, who served as director of public investigation planning at the Supreme Prosecutors' Office, chief of the Public Investigation Division 1 at the Seoul Central District Prosecutors' Office, and the first deputy chief prosecutor at the Seoul Southern District Prosecutors' Office, has joined. BKL plans to leverage Lee's command experience in industrial safety case investigations and corporate criminal investigations for responses to serious accident investigations and probes.
Certified Public Labor Attorneys with on-the-ground labor administration experience have also been added. Certified Public Labor Attorney Son Jun-hae worked for about 30 years, including at the Serious Accident Investigation Division of the Gwangju office of the Ministry of Employment and Labor, handling serious accident investigations, labor inspections, and labor-management dispute matters. Certified Public Labor Attorney Ma Dong-jun served as head of the Industrial Accident Prevention Guidance Division at the Ulsan branch office and the Busan regional office of the Ministry of Employment and Labor.
BKL's policy is to coordinate these experts with attorneys in criminal, labor, construction, and environmental fields to respond step by step from accident prevention to on-site investigations, administrative measures such as work stoppages, investigations and trials, and bereaved family compensation and civil disputes.
Managing partner Lee Hyeong-seok, who oversees the serious accidents response headquarters, said, "Serious accidents response is evolving into an area that requires combined expertise across multiple fields, including industrial safety, labor, and administration, not only investigations and probes," and added, "We will strengthen an integrated response system that combines the experience of newly joined experts, from accident prevention to on-site response and dispute resolution."