Firefighting work continues for the second day at S-Oil's Ulsan plant, Monday. The fire was extinguished 20 hours after its outbreak. / Korea Times photo by Park Eun-kyung

By Kim Hyun-bin

The Federation of Korean Industries (FKI) is calling on the government to ease the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, arguing that the controversial law is ineffective in preventing industrial accidents and is only discouraging business activities, according to FKI officials, Monday.

The FKI cited the vague language regarding punishment for the person in charge of management as the biggest problem, as the act aims to enforce the criminal liability of employers in the event of an industrial accident. It also submitted its proposal to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, suggesting that the definitions of serious industrial accidents and serious civil accidents should be defined thoroughly.

"Many companies ask whether the CEO can be exempted from responsibility if there is a chief safety officer (CSO) with final authority over personnel and budget regarding safety and health, but experts have different opinions on this," the FKI said. "As long as this strong punishment is being imposed, the demand for clarity must be thorough."

FKI suggested that abstract expressions such as 'necessary' and 'faithfully' be deleted from the enforcement ordinance, fearing that unclear concepts in the laws and enforcement ordinances could cause confusion.

In addition, they cited that the "standard for management costs for safety and health" be specified, and said the scope of the "safety and health-related laws" is not clear, leaving much room for arbitrary interpretation.

According to the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, if more than one person is killed, a top management official is imprisoned for at least one year or fined up to 1 billion won ($772,000). It is pointed out that the level of punishment for business owners is excessive compared to other major countries.

In contrast, the U.S. punishes workers with up to six months in prison if they violate safety regulations intentionally resulting in death, and in Germany, workers who intentionally or repeatedly violate safety regulations and endanger the lives of other workers are punished with imprisonment of up to one year in prison.

"Companies are doing their best to prevent safety accidents at industrial sites, but they are experiencing confusion and difficulties in understanding and responding to the current Severe Accidents Punishment Act," a senior FKI official said. "In order to improve the situation, we need to revise the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, and further seek a paradigm shift towards occupational safety and health policies rather than strengthening punishment."