Occupational Accident Prevention 5-Year National Strategic Plan
Revised

I. Background

Occupational accidents are a key factor that indicate the level of a country’s national competitiveness and determine its national standing. The irreversible human and material losses caused by occupational accidents undermine productivity in the workplaces and erode the potential for economic development at the national level. Furthermore, creating decent jobs and raising national competitiveness are not possible without the improvements in work environment and workers’ health. Massive occurrences of occupational accidents as well as large-scale accidents that lead to multiple deaths caused by the violation of basic safety and health regulations, would certainly bring down a country’s prestige to a lower level. 

However, occupational accident prevention capacity of Korea falls behind that of advanced countries. During the course of rapid economic growth in the past decades, safety and health of workers were often neglected and inadequate amount of investment, if any, were made in these areas. As Korean society is going through major changes, namely the increasing focus on the service industry, diversifying employment types, and the broadening scope of workplaces subject to supervision, the standardized regulatory framework and government-led projects of so far, have proven to be ineffective to substantially reduce occupational accidents. As a result, occupational accident rates of the country have remained at the 0.7% level for the past 10 years, and the fatality due to work-related causes is one of the highest among OECD countries.

As a result, the development of occupational accident prevention system is called for through a strategic approach toward safety and health. Against this backdrop, improvements in national accident prevention system, such as the legal framework and operational methods, can be effective in reducing work-related accidents when they encourage to upgrade prevention capabilities in workplaces. Furthermore, it is imperative to create safe and reliable workplaces to realize a fair labor market.

That is why it is important to make amendments and improvements to “The Third Five-Year Occupational Injury Prevention Plan (2010~2014),” launched in the first half of 2010.

II. Occupational Accident Trend and Changes in the Safety and Health Environment

1. The scale and characteristics of occupational accidents

The number of occupational accidents victims is continuously rising. Although fatal cases are decreasing, the number of injured or killed people at work has increased since 2oo1. Accident rate, on the other hand, has decreased since 2003 but remains above 0.7% level.

Each year, more workers become unable to go to work or disabled due to occupational accidents and injuries. Since 2004, the share of occupational accident victims left with permanent disabilities among all accident victims has been above 35%. Korea has been recording more than 60 million lost work days each year since 2001, with the exception of 2009 when it recorded 51.9 million lost work days.      

Occupational accidents lead to tremendous economic and human losses. The direct and indirect economic loss due to occupational accidents amounts to KRW 17 trillion, which is 1.6 times that of traffic accidents and 16 times that of natural disasters. These figures are considerably higher than many OECD countries.

When looking at occupational accident by the size of workplaces, the number of occupational accident victims is decreasing in workplaces with 50 or more employees. However, the share of occupational accident victims in workplaces with less than 50 employees is rising (approximately 80%).

No. of accident victims (accident rate) by the size of workplaces (%)

Accidents are rising in the service industry and among certain groups of workers. With the rise of the service industry, workers in this industry take up larger portion among the injured or diseased. On the other hand, low birth rate, population aging, and changes in the employment structure led to higher accident occurrences among female workers, aged workers, the newly employed workers, and migrant workers.

2. Changes in Occupational Safety and Health Environment

(1) Reduction in the size of workplaces

In the past nine years, about 609,000 new workplaces with workers compensation policy have been added to Korea’s labor market. Among these newly established workplaces, 597,000 workplaces or 98% of them are small-scale enterprises with less than 50 employees.

<No. workplaces with workers compensation policy>

    (2) Growing importance of the service industry

With the emphasis on the service industry in the Korean economy, accidents and illnesses in the industry are growing in number. Also, the changes in work method it has brought along may pose new health threats to workers, including new occupational diseases and work-related stress.

<No. of workers by industry types (%)>

    (3) Higher job mobility

As the number of non-regular workers rises, and workers have higher tendency to move between different jobs, many low-skilled and newly employed workers become vulnerable to occupational accidents.

<No. of workers by each employment type and their employed time (unit: 2,000 persons)>

(4) Increasing number of workers who are more vulnerable to occupational accidents

(aged workers, female workers, and migrant workers)

In the past nine years, the numbers of female workers and aged workers have been constantly on the rise.

<No. of female or aged workers by Year (unit: 1,000 persons)>

It is estimated that the inflow of foreigners to Korea contributes to the rise in migrant workers in the country.

<No. of foreigners entering Korea by Year (through Employment Permit System)>

(unit: persons)

(5) Rising share of in-house subcontracted workers in Korea’s key industries

In-house subcontracted workers account for more than one-third of the total workers in key industries such as shipbuilding, chemicals, and steel industries. The number and share of these workers increased even more remarkably in recent years.

<No. and % of total and subcontracted workers in key industries>

III. Vision and Strategic Goals

Vision: Safer Workplaces, Healthier Workers, and a Happy Nation

Mission

? 30% reduction in lost work days due to occupational accidents by 2014: from 3.25 million to 2.28 million days (baseline: the average lost work days from 2005 to 2009)

? 30% reduction in fatalities due to occupational accidents by 2014: from 1,392 deaths to 974 deaths

   (baseline: the average work-related fatalities from 2005 to 2009)

? 30% reduction in the number of accidents per 1,000 workers: from 4.45 to 3.12

   (baseline: the average number of workers who spent days away from work due to occupational accidents from 2005 to 2009)

Overarching Goals

? To create self-regulatory safety and health management system through effective sharing of roles amongst enterprises, labor market, and the government.

? To secure the necessary infrastructure by fundamentally managing hazards and risks, promoting safety and health culture, and improving statistics.

? To implement safety and health measures that are suitable for the Korean workers and industrial structure.