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The Fatal Accidents Act |
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The Fatal Accidents Act
I. Introduction
The Act on the Penalty of Fatal Accidents (hereinafter referred to as the “Fatal Accidents Act” or “FAA”) was enacted on January 8, 2021. The Occupational Safety and Health Act (hereinafter referred to as the “OSH Act” or “OSHA”) was also completely revised from January 2020 to reduce fatal industrial accidents. However, as fatal accidents have not decreased, a fatal accident penalty law was introduced that is much stronger than the existing penal provisions of the OSH Act. The Fatal Accidents Act covers both major industrial accidents occurring on company premises as well as major fatal accidents/incidents out in society at large, such as the Sewol ferry accident and the air purifier disinfectant fatalities. The legislative purpose of this law is to punish employers, managers, and corporations for fatal accidents from actions in violation of the obligation to follow the mandatory measures to protect safety and health, so that companies can ① secure the workers’ (and the general populations’) right to safety, and ② prevent fatalities from negligent practices or a deficient safety management system. This aims to protect workers and the general population from injury or death (Article 1 of the FAA).
The Fatal Accidents Act is a punitive law that imposes strong penalties on business owners whose workplaces have been the site of a fatal incident, while the OSH Act is a preventative law against industrial accidents.
II. The Concept of Fatal Accident and Duties of the Employer
1. Concept of fatal accident
Fatal accidents as stipulated in the Fatal Accidents Act, are accidents where ① one or more deaths have occurred, ② two or more persons are injured and require treatment for six months or more due to the same accident, or ③ three persons contract an occupational illness (such as acute poisoning) due to the same hazard within one year (Article 2 of the FAA).
2. The scope of application and responsibilities of employers
The Fatal Accidents Act does not apply to workplaces with fewer than five regular workers (Article 3 of the FAA).
In both the Fatal Accidents Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act, persons protected goes beyond only workers as defined in the Labor Standards Act, to include all those who provide work. This includes ① workers as defined in the Labor Standards Act, ② those who provide labor for the purpose of income for the execution of business, regardless of type of employment relationship, such as contract, service-based, or consignment, and ③ all contractors at each level in a multi-contract project (Article 2 (7) of the FAA).
In the Fatal Accidents Act, the person responsible for reducing the risk of fatal accidents is specified as the employer and head of operations (Articles 3 and 4 of the FAA). “Employer” refers to a person who runs his or her own business or a person who conducts business by receiving the labor of others (Article 2 (8) of the FAA). The head of operations refers to a person who has the authority and responsibility to represent the business and is in charge of it, or a person who is in charge of safety and health related to work (Article 2 (9) of the FAA).
3. Employer's obligations
The Fatal Accidents Act stipulates the obligation of the employer to take actions to protect safety and health, and provides for severe penalties for fatal accidents due to the employer violating his or her obligations. In the event that a fatal accident occurs because of a violation of the obligation to protect safety, penalties will be imposed. Conversely, if the employer fulfills his or her duty to put safety and health measures in place, penalties can be avoided.
Employers and heads of operations must establish a safety and health management system to reduce risk and hazards to safety and health in workplaces that are substantially controlled, operated, and managed, and take measures to prevent recurrence in the event a fatal accident occurs (Article 4 of the FAA). Actions to protect safety and health shall also be taken when subcontracting, servicing, or entrusting a third party to engage in the required work, to prevent fatal industrial accidents from occurring among third party employees. However, this is limited to cases where the employer, corporation, or institution is substantially responsible for controlling, operating, and managing the facility, equipment, and place where the third party employees are working (Article 5 of the FAA).
III. Penalties and Employer's Responsibilities
1. Penalties for employer and head of operations
The Fatal Accidents Act applies stronger penalties for fatal accidents than the OSH Act, with fines up to 10 times higher. If at least one person dies due to a violation of the safety and health measures by the employer or head of operations, the employer or head of operations will be sentenced to imprisonment for at least one year or a fine of not more than KRW 1 billion. Penalties are also imposed for injuries or occupational illness. If two or more persons are injured and require treatment for at least six months due to the same accident, or if three or more persons contract an occupational illness within one year due to the same hazards, the employer and/or head of operations shall be sentenced to imprisonment for no more than 7 years or a fine imposed of not more than KRW 100 million won. (Article 6 (2) of the FAA). If the same type of fatal accident recurs within five years, the penalties are levied again but increase by half (Article 6 (3) of the FAA). In addition, the person in charge of corporate management at that workplace must attend and complete safety and health education. If the education is not completed without justifiable reason, a fine of not more than KRW 50 million is imposed (Article 8 of the FAA).
2. Joint penal provisions
The Fatal Accidents Act imposes a fine of not more than KRW 5 billion won for corporations and up to KRW 1 billion won for injuries or occupational illness. However, if a corporation has taken considerable care and supervision to prevent violation but a fatal accident still occurred, no fine will be imposed (Article 7 of the FAA).
3. Punitive damage compensation
The Fatal Accidents Act introduces a punitive damage compensation system that is not found in the OSH Act. In the event that an employer or head of operations intentionally or by gross negligence violates the obligation to take measures to protect safety and health and this results in a fatal accident, the relevant employer or corporation shall be held liable for compensation not exceeding 5 times the damage suffered by the injured person, or the survivors. However, this does not apply if the accident occurs despite the corporation having given considerable attention and supervision of the relevant risks and hazards (Article 15 of the FAA). The courts shall decide the amount of punitive damage compensation in consideration of the following seven items: ① the severity of intentional or unintentional negligence, ② the type and details of the violation of the obligation to protect, ③ the scale of the damage caused by violation of the obligation to protect, ④ the economic benefit obtained by the employer or the corporation due to violation of the obligation to protect, ⑤ the duration and number of violations, ⑥ the corporation’s property holdings, and ⑦ the extent of the corporation's efforts to mitigate the damage and prevent recurrence.
As there has been no punitive damage compensation system so far, damages have been based only on calculations of the amount of compensation for industrial accidents and civil damages. According to this method, when a worker dies from an industrial accident, the company handles it through industrial accident compensation insurance and is not held liable for compensation. However, if the company is liable for negligence in the event of a worker's death, such as due to a lack of safety measures, the company shall be liable for damages under the Civil Act in addition to compensation from the workers' industrial accident compensation insurance to the survivors. The scope of compensation provided under he Civil Act refers to all damages to the injured person/survivors in relation to the company's negligence and considerable causality, with the range of damage recognized by court rulings divided into active, passive, and mental damage. In general, when a worker dies, the scope of passive loss include income (lost income from the time of death to what would have been the time of retirement) and retirement allowance (loss of severance pay due to early termination of employment). Funeral expenses are active damage, while any alimony is included in mental damage.
In the future, it will be possible to request up to 5 times the amount of compensation for existing damages available under he Civil Act when industrial accidents result in death. As a result, the bereaved family and the company will need to engage in a prolonged period of determination of compensation for the bereaved due to disputes over whether an employer was negligent or not, which will act as a considerable burden on the company’s ability to quickly handle the aftermath of fatal accidents.
IV. Implementation Date and Application
The Fatal Accidents Act has a grace period of one year and comes into effect on January 1, 2022. For workplaces with fewer than 50 regularly hired workers (or construction companies engaged in an average project value of less than KRW 5 billion), there is a three-year grace period, meaning the Act comes into effect on January 1, 2024.
Fatal accidents are classified in the FAA as fatal industrial accidents and fatal civil accidents. Major industrial accidents are handled by Ministry of Employment and Labor inspectors, who investigate the situation for workers and contractors who are directed and supervised by the employer concerned. Since a fatal civil accident involves members of the public who are using a facility or public mode of transportation, the Ministry of Justice, through police officers, has jurisdiction. Therefore, since the two different ministries have jurisdiction over fatal accidents separately, differences in interpretation and disposition of the law are expected in its enforcement, leading to some confusion.
V. Conclusion
The Fatal Accidents Act was designed to raise awareness about the need to prevent accidents through strong penalties for employers found to be at fault (through failure to fulfill OSHA requirements) for fatal and other serious accidents. On the other hand, the OSH Act requires that employers have an occupational safety and health system in place to reduce the chance of industrial accidents occurring, take actions against incidents involving hazardous work or substances, and continuously provide education for the purpose of preventing industrial accidents. Therefore, the law should be enforced not expecting that these two laws are compatible with each other, but that they complement each other to reduce the occurrence of fatal accidents and other serious incidents. In addition, with enactment of the Fatal Accidents Act, employers and heads of operations in each workplace should strengthen the safety and health protections in place for workers in advance, and faithfully fulfill their duty of care and supervision, to avoid criminal liability in the event of a fatal accident.
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