The government is releasing an additional 117 reports detailing the circumstances, causes, and preventive measures related to serious workplace accidents. Moving forward, reports on serious accidents that are currently under prosecution will also be gradually disclosed, in addition to those with finalized verdicts.
On October 7, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that it has made these 117 accident investigation reports available on its website and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency's industrial safety portal, allowing anyone to utilize them for workplace accident prevention. These reports are prepared by the agency or relevant experts following serious accidents, documenting the incident's circumstances, causes, and preventive measures.
The newly released reports pertain to serious accidents that occurred in 2023 and have finalized verdicts. Prior to the implementation of the revised Industrial Safety and Health Act, the ministry first disclosed 51 reports on May 27, 2024, concerning incidents with finalized verdicts. With the addition of these 117 reports, the total number of publicly available past serious accident investigation reports has increased to 168.
The 51 reports released in May have accumulated over 50,000 views, averaging about 1,000 views per report.
The ministry's website also features a dedicated bulletin board where users can search for accident cases based on industry, company size, region, and type of accident.
The disclosure of accident investigation reports has been institutionalized under the revised Industrial Safety and Health Act, which took effect on June 1 of this year. Reports on serious accidents occurring after the law's implementation will be made public, excluding personal information, trade secrets, and matters related to national security.
The ministry is proactively releasing reports on incidents that occurred before the law's implementation, provided they have finalized verdicts. The scope of disclosure is set to expand further. While the current focus is on cases with finalized verdicts, reports on incidents that are under prosecution but not yet adjudicated will also be gradually released.
The methodology for preparing these reports is being revised to analyze not only the technical causes of accidents and violations of the Industrial Safety and Health Act but also the management of hazardous and risky factors at workplaces and the overall safety culture.
The government believes that by utilizing actual accident cases and their causes from other workplaces, companies can enhance their risk assessments and safety management, thereby increasing the effectiveness of preventing similar accidents.
Minister of Employment and Labor Kim Young-hoon stated, "We will actively disclose accident investigation reports so that companies can prevent similar accidents through real case studies. If we can utilize accident cases from our region and industry to identify and improve hazardous and risky factors, it will lead to significant preventive effects."
* This article has been translated by AI.
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