Reasons for Proposal
The reality is that the number of deaths caused by occupational accidents in Korea exceeds 2,400 per year and seven per day. Occupational accidents such as the death caused by argon gas poisoning at Hyundai Heavy Industries in 2017, the death resulting from crushing at the Taean Thermal Power Plant of Korea Western Power in 2018, a fire at the warehouse construction site of HanExpress that claimed the lives of 38 people in 2020, a fatal accident on a conveyor belt at Sampyo Cement, and an incidence of death caused by a waste recycling crusher, as well as social catastrophes, workplace accidents and civic accidents such as the humidifier disinfectant scandal and the sinking of MV Sewol have been pointed out as chronic issues of Korean society for decades.
The above large-scale accidents are not the result of misconduct by individuals, but a combination of the absence of a risk management system within the company and an organizational culture that is insensitive towards safety. In order to prevent such accidents, systematic and institutional safety measures should be designed within the company and minimum safety measures should be devised to prevent death by enabling criminal punishment for violations.
Under the current laws, even if a disastrous accident occurs, it is difficult to hold a manager who is the principal of safety management criminally liable. Due to the nature of modern companies, safety management is structured in various positions, and thus it is difficult to apply death by occupational negligence under the Criminal Act. Therefore, most disastrous accidents only result in lenient criminal penalties imposed on front-line field workers or middle managers. As for corporations, there are provisions for imposing administrative fines or penalties for individual acts, such as the Occupational Safety and Health Act, but these regulations are not intended to punish damages to bodily injuries or fatalities, and the amount of penalty is very low relative to the damage sustained.
Therefore, the bill aims to enact a law to hold the employer, management personnel, and the company itself criminally liable when an accident resulting in death or bodily injuries occurs because a company violates its duty of safety management or health measures for facilities used by many unspecified citizens or its duty to prevent hazards while handling hazardous raw materials and products, so as to secure the safety right guaranteed under the Constitution and forestall serious accidents caused by an inadequate organizational culture or safety management system.
Details
A. The Act aims to protect the lives and bodies of citizens and workers and secure the public safety by prescribing punishments for corporations, employers, management personnel, and public officials in the event that death or bodily injuries occur in violation of their duty of taking safety measures or health measures while operating a business or workplace, public facilities, and public means of transportation or while handling hazardous raw materials or products (Article 1).
B. The employer, management personnel, etc. have the duty to prevent any hazards that harm the lives, bodily safety or health of the employees in a business or workplace owned, operated, managed or ordered by the employer, institution, or corporation, and if the employer, corporation, or agency has leased, outsourced, or subcontracted out the above safety measures or health measures to a third party or when the relevant facility or equipment has been consigned for the consignee to hold the duty of operation and management, impose the joint duty of safety measures and health measures on the third party or consignee and the employer or management personnel (Articles 4 and 4).
C. When certain requirements are met, presume that the serious accident has occurred due to the violation of the duty to prevent hazards by an employer or management personnel (Article 5).
D. Prescribe criminal punishment for an employer or management personnel who have violated their duty to take safety measures and health measures and caused a death, such as imprisonment for a limited term of two years (Article 6). Impose a fine on a corporation when the employer, management personnel, etc. commits an offense under Article 6 (Article 7).
E. Impose the duty on employers or management personnel, etc. to prevent public hazards arising from raw materials or products in production, manufacturing, sale, or distribution at the workplace they own, manage, or operate, or prevent public hazards at public facilities and public means of transportation (Article 9).
F. Apply Articles 4, 5 and 7 of the provisions in connection with serious occupational accidents to serious civil accidents (Article 11).
G. Prescribe other details such as suspension of work, suspension of business, and announcement of punishment, revocation of license, etc., liability for damages, special provisions for punishment of public officials, etc.
