Court makes Korea’s first verdict in anti-industrial accident law case

The Uijeongbu District Court Goyang Branch [Photo by Lee Seung-hwan]

A South Korean court has handed down the country’s first verdict in a case involving a violation of the Serious Accident Punishment Act.

The Uijeongbu District Court Goyang Branch Thursday sentenced a small local construction company to a fine of 30 million won ($22,800) and its chief executive officer one year and six months imprisonment and suspended prison term for three years.

The company’s construction site supervisor was also fined 5 million won. They were all charged with violating the act in relation to a fatal industrial accident.

The court stated that the company had not followed safety regulations, such as attaching safeguards and creating a safe work plan, resulting in the death of a worker who fell during the construction. The court said its sentencing considered the fact that the company had paid compensation and offered sincere apologies to the bereaved family and that the family did not wish to pursue punishment.

The case in question involves a fatal accident at a hospital construction site in Goyang, near Seoul, in May last year, where a subcontracted worker fell to his death. Prosecutors had previously charged the company with failing to establish and enforce a safety management system, leading to the accident.

In February, prosecutors sought a fine of 150 million won on the company and a two-year prison sentence on its CEO, as they determined that the company’s failure to follow safety regulations led to the worker’s death. Prosecutors also asked the court to sentence the site supervisor to eight months in prison and the safety manager to eight months in prison.

The verdict is the first of 14 cases involving alleged violations of the Serious Accident Punishment Act. The act imposes penalties on business owners and executives who fail to prevent serious accidents, such as those resulting in death, in workplaces with 50 or more full-time employees. The law applies to construction sites with a contract value of over 5 billion won and the penalty ranges from up to 10 million won in fine to imprisonment for more than one year.