Minister of Labor: “A heavy responsibility lies with employers who prioritize costs over safety” (comprehensive)

Emergency meeting of agency heads to strengthen industrial safety response... “I will tie my safety shoes again.”

(Seoul = Yonhap News) Reporter Hyewon Han = Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon convened heads of 49 employment and labor offices across the country on the 7th and held an emergency meeting of agency heads to strengthen industrial safety response.

The institution heads' meeting was prepared to urge local institution heads to play a more active role in preventing industrial accidents.

The Ministry of Labor reported that Minister Kim emphasized to the heads of organizations to thoroughly supervise workplaces that have already been inspected and supervised to prevent major accidents from recurring, and to take strict action with a zero-tolerance principle if violations are discovered.

Minister Kim said, “We must be aware of the serious problem of companies that have repeatedly experienced the same type of serious disaster,” and asked, “Please think of the supervision of companies with repeated occurrences as the same as special supervision.”

He said, "If a worker's death accident occurs and cost reduction is still prioritized over safety, the employer must be clearly informed that the responsibility is heavy."

Minister Kim also mentioned the repeated occurrence of industrial accidents at the Daebul National Industrial Complex (Daebul Industrial Complex) in Yeongam-gun, Gwangju, South Jeolla Province, and instructed, "Check whether the cause is due to outdated facilities, whether the awareness and efforts of labor and management are still lacking, or whether we (the Ministry of Labor) lack sincerity."

Minister Kim also emphasized, “In one month, the Labor Inspector Duties Execution Act will come into effect, and the role of the Ministry of Labor will be reborn for the first time in 73 years. The headquarters and local government offices must do their best to prepare together, and I will lace up my safety shoes again.”

It was pointed out that with the implementation of the Labor Inspector Duties Execution Act on the 8th of next month, some of the labor inspection authority of the Ministry of Labor will be delegated to local governments.

Minister Kim said, “The Ministry of Labor headquarters should make every effort to promote national tasks such as budget and legislation during the regular National Assembly, and local governments should focus their efforts on supervision so that the people can feel it.”

The agency heads then announced the tasks they will focus on to reduce the number of accident deaths for the remainder of this year.