Abstract
A Study on Improvement Plan of Occupational Safety and Health Act through Analysis of Major Accident Cases and Judicial Precedents in South Korea
- Focused on the Core Standards of Occupational Safety and Health -
Chae, Chang Keun
(Supervis...
Abstract
A Study on Improvement Plan of Occupational Safety and Health Act through Analysis of Major Accident Cases and Judicial Precedents in South Korea
- Focused on the Core Standards of Occupational Safety and Health -
Chae, Chang Keun
(Supervisor Jeong, Jin Woo)
Dept. of Safety Engineering
Graduate School of School
Seoul National University of Science and Technology
This study aims to analyze the inadequacies and defects of the present Occupational Safety and Health Act with subordinate statute (hereafter “the Act”) and provide measures for reasonably improving the Act to promote its legal efficacy, site operability, and adaptability. It aims to increase the understanding of the Act in law-addressees in the industrial field, by providing several measures for reasonably improving the present Occupational Safety and Health Act. First providing baseline data can actively be utilized in the activities for preventing preemptive industrial disasters. Additionally, clarifying the regulations of the Act so that an agent does not escape responsibility from the Act due to a lack of the required element of the crime when a major accident occurs. Through these measure, the ultimate purpose of this study is to prevent industrial accidents beforehand and preserve laborers’ health and lives.
For this purpose, this study collected analyzed important major industrial accident cases that recently took place as well as the major judicial precedents in which there were great legal disputes concerning the violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Based on a through analysis, this study raised problems with subcontract regulation, risk assessment, work procedure and possible violation of the principle of statutory criminal punishment outlined in the present Occupational Safety and Health Act and proposed directions for improving the Act and as well as presented exemplary measures to resolve these issues accordingly.
This study was concerned with the operating system of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, the closest to safety, concerns of the various safety-related laws, due to its enforcement ordinance of the same Act, enforcement regulations of the same Act, Local rule on Occupational Safety and Health Standard. However, the study itself focuses on discussing subcontract regulation, risk assessment, work procedure system, and possible violation of the principle of statutory criminal punishment. In addition, this study collected literature related to the Occupational Safety and Health Act, major accident cases that recently drew social attention, and major judicial precedents in which there were great legal disputes concerning the Act through various routes. Based on this background, this study investigated measures for reasonable improvements to the Act through a thorough analysis of the existing literature.
This analysis yielded several recommendation for proposed measures for reasonably improving the related regulations, such as the prohibition and approval of subcontract and the responsibility and authority between the contractor and the sub-contractor. Additionally, this study proposed measures for improving the effectiveness of risk assessment. Additionally, this study proposed measures for improvements for the promotion of the site operability of the work procedure form. Lastly, this study proposed concrete measures for the improvements of the major standards with possible violations of the principle of statutory criminal punishment, concerning the Occupational Safety and Health Standards.
This is the first study to intensively analyze major accident and judicial precedents related to the Occupational Safety and Health Act in order to theoretically recommend directions for improvements to the Act. The National Assembly and the Government may use these recommendations to amend the Act in the future. Additionally, researchers focused on the Act can used measures as research materials. Moreover, hopefully, this study can contribute to giving predictability to law-addressees and increasing site operability by increasing the regulatory power of the Act.
Key words: Occupational Safety and Health Act, Precedents, Local Rule on Occupational Safety and Health Standard, Risk Assessment, Work Procedure, Major Accident, Judicial Precedent.