Labor ministry convenes workplace safety roundtable for Daegu-Gyeongbuk

The labor ministry on Tuesday convened a safety roundtable in Daegu to reduce industrial accidents in Daegu and North Gyeongsang Province, where 96.1 percent of workplaces have fewer than 50 employees.

The ministry said industrial-accident conditions in the region have improved this year, but the trend needs to take firmer hold. It convened the roundtable to find ways for regional bodies to closely manage sites that are difficult for government authorities to reach. Labor and management representatives, safety and health institutions, local officials and worker safety groups attended.

"Reducing industrial accidents requires regulation and support -- a carrot-and-stick approach -- to work together, and local governments, labor and management, safety and health institutions, and worker safety groups must be the gateway that links policy and support to small workplaces," Ryu Hyun-cheol, head of the ministry's Industrial Safety and Health Headquarters, said.

Participants discussed sharing work information and conducting joint inspections to reduce fatal accidents at very small construction and logging sites, which occur frequently in the region. They also reviewed an integrated support plan for aging chemical industrial complexes combining safety assessments, environmental improvements and training.