Skip to main content
IOSH Magazine: Safety, Health and Wellbeing in the world of work - return to the homepage IOSH Magaazine logo
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on Facebook
  • Visit @ioshmagazine on Twitter
  • Visit IOSH Magazine on LinkedIn
Non-verbal communication
How to build trust
March/April 2023 issue

Main navigation

  • Home
    • Browse previous issues
    • Member accolades
    • Member tributes
  • Health
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Sickness absence
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Rehabilitation
      • Personal injury
      • Return to work
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Achieving Fellowship
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Professional skills
      • Qualifications
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Jobs
  • Covid-19
  • Knowledge Bank
    • Back to basics
    • Book club
    • Infographics
    • Podcast
    • Reports
    • Webinars
    • Videos
  • Products & Services
  • Management
    • Human factors
      • Sickness absence
      • Accident reduction
      • Behavioural safety
      • Control of contractors
      • Migrant workers
      • Older workers
      • Reporting
      • Safe systems of work
      • Young workers
    • Leadership and management
      • Employee involvement
      • Leadership
      • Management systems
    • Management standards
      • ISO 45001
      • ISO 45003
    • Planning
      • Assurance
      • Compliance
      • Emergency planning
      • Insurance
    • Strategy
      • Corporate governance
      • Performance/results
      • Regulation/enforcement
      • Reputation
    • Sustainability
      • Human capital and Vision Zero
  • Health
    • COVID-19
    • Mental health and wellbeing
      • Bullying
      • Drugs and alcohol
      • Mental health
      • Stress
      • Wellbeing
    • Musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
      • Ergonomics
      • Manual handling
      • Vibration
    • Occupational cancer
      • Asbestos
      • Hazardous substances
      • Radiation
  • Safety
    • Incident management
      • Chemicals
      • Electricity
      • Fire
      • First aid
      • Slips and trips
    • Non-health related fatalities
      • Road safety
      • Work at height
    • Risk management
      • Confined spaces
      • Disability
      • Legionella
      • Lifting operations
      • Lone workers
      • Noise
      • Personal protective equipment
      • Violence at work
      • Work equipment
      • Workplace transport
  • Skills
    • Communication
    • Personal performance
      • Career development
      • Competencies
      • Personal development
      • Qualifications
      • Professional skills
      • Achieving Fellowship
    • Stakeholder management
    • Working with others
      • Leadership
      • Future Leaders
  • Transport and logistics
  • Third sector
  • Retail
  • Mining and quarrying
  • Rail
  • Rehabilitation
    • Personal injury
    • Return to work
  • Utilities
  • Manufacturing and engineering
  • Construction
  • Sector: IOSH Branch
    • Sector: Northern Ireland
    • Sector: Midland
    • Sector: Merseyside
    • Sector: Manchester and North West Districts
    • Sector: Ireland East
    • Sector: Ireland
    • Sector: Edinburgh
    • Sector: Desmond-South Munster
    • Sector: Qatar
    • Sector: Oman
    • Singapore
    • Sector: South Coast
    • Sector: South Wales
    • Sector: Thames Valley
    • Sector: Tyne and Wear
    • Sector: UAE
    • Sector: West of Scotland
    • Sector: Yorkshire
  • Healthcare
  • Sector: Fire
  • Sector: Financial/general services
  • Sector: Energy
  • Education
  • Sector: Communications and media
  • Chemicals
  • Sector: Central government
  • Catering and leisure
  • Agriculture and forestry
  • Sector: Local government
  • Sector: IOSH Group
    • Sector: Financial Services
    • Sector: Sports Grounds and Events
    • Rural industries
    • Sector: railway
    • Public Services
    • Sector: Offshore
    • Sector: Hazardous Industries
    • Sector: Food and Drink
    • Sector: Fire Risk Management
    • Education
    • Construction
    • Sector: Aviation and Aerospace
Quick links:
  • Home
  • Categories
  • News
Regulation/enforcement

South Korean business owners and managers face tougher OSH penalties

Open-access content Tuesday 25th January 2022
From the archive:  Just so you know, this article is more than 1 year old.
Authors
Nick Warburton
Web-Handcuffed-iStock-802236202.jpg

Business owners and managers in South Korea face significantly tougher penalties for serious accidents or fatalities when new enforcement rules are introduced this week. 

Under the Serious Accident Punishment Act (SAPA) and its Enforcement Decree, business owners and managers could face a minimum of a year in prison and/or a criminal fine of up to 1 billion Korean won (£618,500) if there is a fatality. The company could also be subject to a criminal fine of up to 5 billion Korean won (just over £3m).

According to independent research company Chambers and Partners, in cases where there are two or more injured employees who need treatment for at least six months or where three or more persons become occupationally ill within a year, the business owner or manager could face a prison sentence of up to seven years or courts may instead impose a fine of up to 100 million Korean won (£618). The company may also be subject to a criminal fine of up 1 billion Korean won. 

As Chambers and Partners note, the bill on Punishment for Serious Accidents, which was passed by South Korea’s National Assembly and enacted as the SAPA on 8 January, ‘stipulates that business owners and persons responsible for management will be criminally liable for serious accidents caused by their failure to their duties to implement occupational safety and health measures’. 

The SAPA, which sets out tougher penalties if a serious accident occurs than under South Korea’s Occupational Safety and Health (OSHA) Act, is due to be introduced in two stages. 

Workplaces with 50 or more employees will be covered from Thursday this week (27 January) while those with fewer than 50 employees and construction projects with a contract price of less than 5 billion Korean won have until 27 January 2024 to prepare for the changes and ensure their OSH provisions meet the new legal requirements. 

According to international law firm Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, workplaces with fewer than five employees will be exempt from the provisions relating to serious industrial accidents.   

The ramping up of criminal liabilities under South Korea’s new OSH laws is designed to ensure that employers prioritise OSH, so that, according to Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, they ‘dedicate sufficient management time and attention to safety issues and that safety considerations are integrated into decision-making processes.’ 

The law firm also points out that there is now a greater onus on business owners and managerial personnel to obtain up-to-date knowledge on OSH requirements. 

To safeguard against potential future incidents, they are being advised to become ‘familiar with the specific hazards and risks that may be specific to a particular workplace’. 

The Enforcement Decree, which is due to take effect this week, provides detailed guidance on the legislation’s implementation.

Article 4 of the SAPA outlines specific obligations on business owners and managers to prevent serious industrial accidents, including setting up a health and safety management system; ensuring there are adequate contingency plans in place to prevent any recurrence; complying with any improvement notices; and putting in place any necessary measures that meet the requirements of OSH laws and regulations.

As part of their obligation to set up a health and safety management system, business owners and managers are now required by law to put in place guidelines that ‘identify and remedy any hazards or risk factors’ that relate to each workplace they are responsible for managing. They are also required to monitor compliance with these guidelines, at least twice a year.

‘An occurrence of three or more cases of occupational illnesses from the same hazard in a year constitutes a serious industrial accident under the SAPA’

The legal firm also notes that, under the requirements of the OSHA, they must also appoint ‘at least the prescribed number of OSH personnel’ needed to safeguard employees. If these individuals concurrently occupy other positions, business owners and managers must ensure they can perform their OSH duties.

Business owners and managers are also required to ensure that an adequate budget is put aside to cover the business’ OSH responsibilities, notably in relation to remedying any hazards or risk factors.

The new requirements also place a greater onus on these individuals to ensure that all managers, supervisors and persons in general charge of OSH have the necessary authority and financial resources to perform their duties. Business owners and managers also need to set criteria to evaluate their performance and evaluate it against this criteria at least twice a year. 

There is a specific requirement for workplaces that have at least 500 full-time employees (or a construction firm in the top 200 ranking) to set up a dedicated service to oversee OSH in general. 

To encourage worker feedback on OSH practices in the business, owners and managers must also put in place procedures that encourage workers to share any concerns they may have about work policies and/or practices. They must also implement and monitor, at least twice year, any measures that the company takes based on this worker feedback. 

According to Herbert Smith Freehills LLP, the SAPA also requires business owners and managers to prepare a contingency plan in the event of a serious industrial accident, outlining what its response measures are. At least twice a year, they are also required to monitor whether these measures are being complied with.

As many businesses will use subcontracted service providers, the legislation also introduces tougher requirements on criteria and procedures for assessing them in the first place and monitoring their compliance once work starts.

The SAPA also imposes tougher measures to ensure that business owners and managers are checking their OSH obligations are being complied with on the frontline. 

The list of requirements includes making sure that, at least twice a year, they check that any mandatory OSH training courses that relate to hazardous and dangerous work are provided. Business owners and managers must also review training outcomes. 

If training is not provided, as required, they will need to follow this up and ensure it does happen and allocate additional budget if necessary.

Interestingly, the legislation also acknowledges the growing importance of occupational ill-health. The Enforcement Decree lists 24 types of illnesses as occupational illnesses. Under the new rules, business owners and managers are now required to understand the risks that developing these illnesses can pose. 

As the law firm notes, ‘An occurrence of three or more cases of occupational illnesses from the same hazard in a year constitutes a serious industrial accident under the SAPA.’

Image credit | iStock
 

You may also be interested in...

web_young-engineer-in-factory_credit_iStock-1038364390.png

 Employers must provide same level of protection to all workers under amended PPE regs

Friday 21st January 2022
Employers need to ensure they are ready to provide the same level of protection to workers who carry out casual work as employees who have a contract of employment when amended personal protective equipment (PPE) regulations come into force on 6 April (https://www.hse.gov.uk/ppe/index.htm).
Open-access content
web_graphs-concept_credit_iStock-655332504

 Employers should review OSH measures after HSE publishes latest ill-health stats

Friday 7th January 2022
IOSH has urged employers to continually review their OSH measures and ensure they are ‘proportionate and fit for purpose’ after Great Britain's Health and Safety Executive’s (HSE) annual figures for work-related ill-health, injury and enforcement highlighted the Covid-19 pandemic’s impact on British workers’ health.
Open-access content
iStock-1198209187.jpg

 Edinburgh nursery fined £800k over 10-month-old boy’s fatal choke

Friday 28th January 2022
An Edinburgh nursery that failed to provide its employees with suitable instruction and supervision has been fined £800,000 after a 10-month-old boy in its care died after a choking incident.
Open-access content
web_heavy-traffic-on-the-M6-notorway_credit_iStock-1334150142.png

 Government applies brakes to more ‘all-lane’ running smart motorways for five years

Tuesday 18th January 2022
The government will delay the introduction of any more ‘all-lane running’ (ALR) motorways in England while it assesses the safety of smart motorways introduced before 2020.
Open-access content
web_pedestrian-sign_credit_iStock-1057641652.png

 Employers need to communicate Highway Code changes to all workers

Tuesday 1st February 2022
Employers who have staff that are required to drive as part of their work need to ensure that they communicate the implications of sweeping changes to the Highway Code as part of their policy for managing work-related road safety.
Open-access content
Esquisite Solutions 1.png

 Salford co fined £42,500 and director given community order over unsafe roof work

Wednesday 2nd February 2022
A Salford construction firm has been fined £42,500 and its director handed a community order after Manchester Crown Court found the business had undertaken unsafe work on the roof of the Iraqi Consulate in central Manchester in early 2019.
Open-access content

Latest from News

web-morrison-shutterstock_1205515750.png

  Morrisons’ £3.5m fine is ‘a warning to all employers’, says council

Friday 24th March 2023
Morrisons supermarket has been fined £3.5 million for failing to ensure the health and safety of an epileptic employee who died after falling from a shop stairway.
Open-access content
jfc

 IOSH launches new five-year strategy

Tuesday 21st March 2023
IOSH launches its new five-year strategy this spring. It will build and act on the reshaped purpose and ambition gained during WORK 2022, which ran from 2017 to 2022.
Open-access content
web_Cranes-on-construction-site_credit_iStock-1352083784.jpg

 Risk & Compliance software provider collaborates with HSE and Costain to improve risk management on worksites

Friday 17th March 2023
A Belfast-based Risk & Compliance software provider has been collaborating with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and construction giant Costain as part of an ongoing project to unlock artificial intelligence’s (AI) potential in improving the management of risks on worksites.
Open-access content

Latest from Regulation/enforcement

web--scales-iStock-184986045.png

 A reasonable balance to strike

Friday 24th March 2023
Safety interventions should be practicable and cost-effective, but too much of an imbalance towards safety does not make economic sense for employers, argues Geoff Vaughan, who suggests ‘gross disproportion’ provides a practical limit.
Open-access content
web_Jeremy-hunt-holding-dispatch-box_credit_Fred-Duval_shutterstock_2275701011.png

 Spring budget and occupational health

Friday 17th March 2023
Richard Jones CFIOSH, comments on the occupational health aspects of the Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's first budget statement.
Open-access content
web_Big-ben-at-sunrise_credit_iStock-547499548.png

 Health and safety regulations at risk under draft law

Monday 13th March 2023
A proposed new law aims to revoke EU-derived legislation, including life-saving protections, by December 2023, unless specifically kept or replaced – Richard Jones CFIOSH explains how OSH practitioners can get involved.
Open-access content

Latest from Nick Warburton

web_Cranes-on-construction-site_credit_iStock-1352083784.jpg

 Risk & Compliance software provider collaborates with HSE and Costain to improve risk management on worksites

Friday 17th March 2023
A Belfast-based Risk & Compliance software provider has been collaborating with the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and construction giant Costain as part of an ongoing project to unlock artificial intelligence’s (AI) potential in improving the management of risks on worksites.
Open-access content
yig

 How to mitigate the risks of complex supply chains

Thursday 2nd March 2023
Businesses are often reliant on complex supply chains, which can make them vulnerable to crises. Here’s how OSH professionals can support business continuity.
Open-access content
6r

 World Risk Poll indicates extent of workplace violence and harassment

Monday 6th February 2023
A global poll has given a sense of the magnitude of workplace violence and harassment, with a fifth of respondents (21%) admitting they have experienced at least one form of it during their working lives.
Open-access content
Share
  • Twitter
  • Facebook
  • Linked in
  • Mail
  • Print

Latest Jobs

Senior Health and Safety Manager

Reading
Up to £65000.00 per annum + Great Car Allowance & Benefits
Reference
5452983

Regional Health and Safety Advisor

Northampton
Up to £53000 per annum + Travel & Excellent Benefits
Reference
5452982

Global Health, Safety and Environment Director

Up to £150000 per annum + Excellent Benefits
Reference
5452980
See all jobs »

Sign up for regular e-alerts

Receive the latest news and features, free to your inbox

Sign up

Subscribe to IOSH magazine

Receive the print edition straight to your door

Subscribe
IOSH Covers
​
FOLLOW US
Twitter
LinkedIn
YouTube
CONTACT US
Contact us
Tel +44 (0)20 7880 6200
​

IOSH

About IOSH
Become a member
IOSH Events
MyIOSH

Information

Privacy Policy
Terms & Conditions
Cookie Policy

Get in touch

Contact us
Advertise with us
Subscribe to IOSH magazine
Write for IOSH magazine

IOSH Magazine

Health
Safety
Management
Skills
IOSH Jobs

© 2023 IOSH • IOSH is not responsible for the content of external sites

ioshmagazine.com and IOSH Magazine are published by Redactive Media Group. All rights reserved. Reproduction of any part is not allowed without written permission.

Redactive Media Group Ltd, 71-75 Shelton Street, London WC2H 9JQ