A Solution to Serious Industrial Accidents: From Punishment to Prevention

It has now been four years since the Serious Accidents Punishment Act took effect. Its intent was to reduce industrial accidents by imposing heavy responsibility on business managers. But while punishment has been strengthened, accidents have not declined. Recently, financial authorities have even considered restricting loans to companies where serious accidents occur, adding financial sanctions on top of criminal penalties. The Serious Accidents Punishment Act has now become a risk that threatens corporate survival.

Despite harsher punishment, industrial accidents have increased. According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, the cumulative number of industrial accidents through the third quarter of 2025 rose 3.2% compared with the same period the previous year. In particular, deaths at small workplaces with fewer than 50 employees surged by 10.4%. This means it is difficult to expect preventive effects from stronger punishment alone.

Perceptions in the field are no different. According to a survey by the Korea Employers Federation (KEF), companies responded that economic and criminal sanctions such as administrative fines or criminal punishment were unlikely to lead to a reduction in serious accidents. At the same time, they assessed the current level of punishment imposed on employers as already very high. In the business field, it has become clear that a system designed around punishment is far removed from genuine prevention.

Workers are the ones who suffer. When a fatal accident occurs at a construction site, cases of company-wide work stoppages are increasing. This is a form of “self-censoring shutdown,” driven by awareness of the government’s strict standards. As a result, it is workers on the ground who lose opportunities to work, leading to reduced income and job insecurity. A paradox is emerging in which a system intended to promote safety instead undermines continuity of work and makes people’s lives more difficult.

The very direction of the system is misguided. Although the Occupational Safety and Health Act contains more than 1,200 provisions, the law focuses not on accident prevention but on punishment after the fact. Article 167 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, for example, illustrates this by presupposing punishment of the employer in the event of a worker’s death. The more regulation increases, the more workplaces become preoccupied not with safety management but with managing legal risk.

Advanced countries in industrial safety have chosen a different path. The United Kingdom, for example, operates its policies around companies’ autonomous risk assessments and preventive systems. Specific methods of safety management are left to companies and worksites. In other words, those who know the workplace best are allowed to design and manage safety standards. This approach makes practical safety possible by reflecting the characteristics of each worksite.

The cost structure itself must change. Rather than spending money on administrative fines and lawsuits after an accident, it is better for society as a whole to invest in safety equipment and training in advance. Companies can reduce unnecessary burdens, and workers can protect their lives and safety. Punishment alone cannot reduce serious accidents.

There is nothing wrong with the determination to reduce industrial accidents itself. The problem is creating systems that do not work in reality, increase costs, and make business operations rigid. The more regulations emphasize punishment alone, the more responsibility-shifting and perfunctory responses spread. The results of four years under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act clearly demonstrate this fact.

Even intimidation and tougher investigations have not reduced industrial accidents. It is now time to acknowledge this. It has become clear that policies centered solely on severe punishment cannot reduce serious accidents. What is needed is not additional punishment, but a change in direction.

Safety at industrial worksites must be improved at the worksite itself. We must move away from a system controlled through punishment and shift to a structure of autonomy and responsibility centered on prevention. Only when the system is overhauled so that those who understand the workplace can design and manage risks will sustainable industrial safety finally become possible.

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Original title: 중대재해 해법, 처벌에서 예방으로

Author: Sung-no Choi

Date: 2025-12-23

Source: https://www.cfe.org/bbs/bbsDetail.php?cid=press&idx=28442