The current Act provides that, the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport shall conduct a safety inspection or examination on vulnerable small establishments and shall notify the manager or owner of the small establishment or the head of the related administrative agency of the findings and information necessary for safety measures. It also provides that the manager or owner of the vulnerable small establishment or the head of the related administrative agency shall endeavor to perform work necessary for the repair, reinforcement, etc., of such vulnerabilities.

However, it was shown that implementation levels of the provisions above were low, since the results of a safety inspection for vulnerable small establishments between 2014 and 2017 showed 747 establishments that needed repair/reinforcements, but only 286 establishments (38.3%) undertook such work.

This is because safety inspection and safety measures are not mandatory provisions. Therefore, this proposal seeks to amend safety inspections and safety measures to make them mandatory, to ensure proper measures are being taken for vulnerable establishments.

Additionally, this proposal seeks to put in place more effective and systematic safety inspection by requiring the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to conduct an assessment on safety inspections/measures and reflecting it in the basic plan (newly insert Article 5, paragraph 5; Article 6).

If a management authority fails to take necessary measures, such as repairing and reinforcing an establishment under paragraph (1), the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport or the head of the related administrative agency shall order the management authority to take measures as ordered and ensure that such corrective measures are implemented (Article 24, paragraph 2).