Labor ministry to add safety fines as industrial accident bill passes

The labor ministry said Thursday that parliament passed amendments to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, allowing fines of up to 5 percent of operating profit on employers where at least three workers die in industrial accidents in a single year.

The new penalty applies to workplaces that violate safety and health obligations, and the money collected will go to the industrial accident insurance fund for prevention work. It takes effect six months after the law is proclaimed.

The revisions also give workers more room to stop dangerous jobs. Workers, worker representatives and honorary industrial safety inspectors may ask employers to halt operations when there is an imminent risk of an industrial accident or when such a risk is feared, and subcontractors may make the same request directly to the primary contractor. The labor minister's power to order work stopped will extend beyond serious accidents to cases where a worker is unconscious or his or her condition is unclear.

"Everyone who works has the right to work safely, and making sure people are not injured or killed at the workplaces they leave home for is the government's most basic and important duty," Employment and Labor Minister Kim Young-hoon said.

Companies where two or more workers die at once in a safety-related accident and that have faced two or more business suspension orders over three years could lose their business registration. The labor minister may ask the relevant administrative agency to cancel the registration when such an employer again becomes subject to a suspension request.

A safety committee chaired by the labor minister will be set up at the ministry, with up to 20 members drawn from labor and management representatives and safety and health experts, to deliberate major industrial safety and health policies, including basic plans for preventing accidents. It is to be established three months after proclamation.

The revisions also introduce financial rewards for people who report violations of industrial safety and health law and related orders, with subordinate regulations to be prepared in time to begin payments when the law takes effect.

Separately, the amendments widen the requirement to set aside industrial safety and health management costs from construction project owners to contractors and other industries, and specify heat waves and cold waves as grounds for extending construction periods at a contractor's request. Safety certification exemptions will be expanded to cover goods imported for export purposes, effective from the day of proclamation.

The amendments legislate key tasks from a comprehensive labor safety plan the government announced in September 2025. "Through the formation and operation of the Safe Workplace Committee, in which labor, management and the government all take part, the ministry will actively support labor and management so they can properly carry out their roles and responsibilities in preventing industrial accidents at worksites," Kim said.