After the 1997 Asian financial crisis, increased labor market flexibility caused the number of non-regular workers to rise and indirect employment to spread throughout all industries, and the life and safety of workers have been neglected due to the evasion of corporate responsibility in the face of the economic logic of pursuing profits. 

In 2018, the National Human Rights Commission of Korea stated in its “Recommendations on the System Improvement for Labor Rights of Indirectly Employed Workers” that it is necessary to significantly expand the scope of harmful and dangerous work that is prohibited from being contracted out and strengthen the responsibility of the principal contractor in the event of industrial accidents, by considering the expansion of the scope of work prohibited from being contracted out, transitions in the industrial structure and the distinctive characteristics, workplace, working environment, tools, machinery, facilities and work processes of each industry.

Therefore, the Amendment aims to guard the life and safety of workers against outsourced risks by expanding the scope of harmful and dangerous work prohibited from being contracted out and strengthening the preventive function of industrial accidents through severe punishment, guidance, and supervision of industrial accidents. 

Details

A. Request to view process safety reports (Article 46 (6) newly inserted)

Mandate that the Minister of Employment and Labor grant the request to view process safety reports filed by workers, etc., who have sustained damage caused by severe industrial accidents and residents nearby the areas where severe industrial accidents have occurred. 

B. Measures against the concealment of industrial accidents (Article 57-2 newly inserted)

1) Mandate the Minister of Employment and Labor to disclose the employers and the places of business that have concealed the occurrence of industrial accidents.

2) Establish the industrial accident concealment deliberation committee under the Ministry of Employment and Labor to deliberate on the list disclosure. 

C. Add harmful works prohibited from being contracted out (Article 58 (1))

Add the operation and maintenance of machinery at places such as power plants, steel mills and shipyards, and works performed at construction sites to the list of prohibited works.

D. Raise the penalty for violations of protective measures when using hazardous and dangerous equipment (Articles 168-1 and 170-4)

Raise the penalties for violations of protective measures against hazardous or dangerous machinery and equipment from imprisonment for up to 1 year or by fine of up to 10 million won to imprisonment for up to 5 years or by fine of up to 50 million won.

- Add the operation and maintenance of machinery at places such as power plants, steel mills and shipyards, and works performed at construction sites to the list of prohibited works.

- Raise the penalty for violations of protective measures when using hazardous and dangerous equipment (Articles 168-1 and 170-4)