Reasons for Proposal
A fire broke out on April 29, 2020 in a construction site on the second basement floor in HanExpress’s warehouse in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province during urethane spraying, leaving 38 people dead and 10 injured. After the 2008 fire in Korea 2000’s cold storage warehouse, Icheon, fires have continued to cause many causalities in construction sites.
While some point out that failing to comply with basic safety precautions such as handling combustible substances while doing hot work such as welding or fusion cutting, or handling flammable substances without ventilation measures is the fundamental reason for such fires, others argue that punishment is too lenient against the business owner in these cases of serious disaster.
In this regard, this Act aims to place fire monitoring staff in welding and fusion cutting sites, subject anyone violating the foregoing to up to 5 million won in fines, ban different hazardous work from being performed in the same place at the same time, and strengthen punishment to at least 3 years in prison for any business owner who fails to put in place safety measures and causes the death of any employee (Article 17-2 newly inserted, Article 51, Article 167, and Article 175 (5) 1).
Major Provisions
Place fire monitoring staff in welding and fusion cutting sites, subject anyone violating the foregoing to up to 5 million won in fines, ban different hazardous work from being performed in the same place at the same time, and strengthen punishment to at least 3 years in prison for any business owner who fails to put in place safety measures and causes the death of any employee (Article 17-2 newly inserted, Article 51, Article 167, and Article 175 (5) 1)
