Government seeks revision in industrial accident law for small businesses

[Photo by Kim Ho-young]

The South Korean government and the ruling party are looking to revise the country’s Serious Accident Punishment Act, particularly looking to prevent its expansion that would impose an excessive burden on businesses.

The expansion of the law, which will now include small businesses with less than 50 employees from 2024, is considered to have more disadvantages than benefits.

According to the office of Representative Lim Lee-ja of the People Power Party on Wednesday, Lim is expected to introduce a revision bill for the Serious Accident Punishment Act as early as Thursday. The amendment is aimed at postponing the application of the law to businesses with less than 50 employees for two years.

Under the initial plan, the law was scheduled to be applied to small businesses from January 27, 2024.

The Serious Accident Punishment Act stipulates that if a major accident, such as a worker’s death, occurs in an industrial site, the manager in charge, will be sentenced to one year or more in prison or fined less than 1 billion won ($750,182) for their failure to provide the obligatory safety and health system.

But small businesses have requested that the government and lawmakers delay the enforcement of the law, citing poor conditions and difficulty in hiring safety experts.

Kim Ki-moon, chairman of the Korea Federation of SMEs, met with Kim Do-eup, chair of the National Assembly’s legislative and judiciary committee, last month and called for a delay in the application of the law to small businesses.

He noted that many small businesses are not prepared for the law due to a “lack of professional personnel, so there is a strong opinion that it is necessary to extend the grace period for at least two years.”

According to a survey conducted by the Korea Federation of SMEs in May, 40.8 percent of businesses with less than 50 employees said that “compliance with the mandatory requirements of the Serious Accident Punishment Act next year is impossible.”

As a result, 58.9 percent of small businesses said that they need an extension of the application period for at least two years, with 41.2 percent needing one year.

The legal community also suggested that the application of the law to businesses with fewer than 50 employees is not meaningful.

“The application of the Act is meaningful for large businesses where the factory manager and the responsible manager are different,” a lawyer said. “Most businesses with fewer than 50 employees have factory managers who are often responsible managers, and those responsible for accidents on site are already punished under the Occupational Safety and Health Act.”

It remains to be seen, however, whether the main opposition Democratic Party, which holds a majority of seats in the National Assembly, will agree to the revision.

Opposition lawmakers say they need to carefully review whether the accident rate has decreased since the introduction of the law and that philosophical considerations on how to reduce major accidents are also necessary.