MOEL will train 100,000 S+H partners to support small workplaces

October 2011

To assist accident prevention efforts in small workplaces, the Ministry of Employment and Labor (MOEL) will develop 100,000 safety and health partners (S+H partners). The plan was announced by the Ministry on September 27, which targets small workplaces with less than 50 employees.

Small workplaces employing less than 50 workers have no obligation to hire safety and health managers, which makes them even more vulnerable to accidents. This is why the MOEL set out to nurture and train S+H partners. In 2010, 79,797 out of 98,645 (or 80.7%) of the occupational accidents victims were employed to these small workplaces.

The MOEL plans to train a total of 100,000 S+H partners by 2014. To begin with, 10,000 S+H partners will be trained as a pilot program in 2011 and 30,000 additional S+H partners will be trained in each year until 2014.

Among the S+H partners, 65,000 of them are expected to work in the manufacturing industry, 5,000 in construction, and 30,000 in service industry.

The site managers of workplaces employing less than 50 workers and technical managers or leaders of construction companies whose rankings are lower than 1,000 are eligible for becoming the S+H partners. They can receive “S+H partner certificate” after the completion of eight-hour training.

The MOEL designated 12 training institutes including KOSHA, who will be providing the training for S+H partner candidates and start the training program beginning next month.

The training program is covered by the unemployment insurance scheme in the cases of workers in the manufacturing and construction industries. For workers in the service sector, KOSHA provides free training to them.