[2020년 산안법 위반 1심 판결 전수조사]Management’s liability for the death of a (senior) worker is ‘8.69 million won’

Sentence to reduce work accidents

A total of 1.6 billion won were fined for 185 deaths … Voice of “corporate crime awareness”
One year of enforcement of the ‘Kim Yong-gyun Law’ The incarceration period increased by 1 month, but most were convicted

1.58 billion won.

This is a fine imposed by the court for the deaths of 185 work-related accidents in 2020. Last year, the court fined an average of 5.18 million won per defendant for the deaths of workers and others at industrial sites. 8.69 million won was returned to the state for death toll.

154 employers and bosses of the deceased workers were sentenced to prison and economic imprisonment, and 149 of them were released shortly after the trial. Only five people were punished.

Korea pays the price of death at work. The Kyunghyang Shinmun examined 178 cases of first trial sentences published in the Supreme Court access system last year among the cases of violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Law (San-an Law) in which the death occurred on day 3.

A total of 185 dead appeared in the sentence. Most of the time, “a person by accident” died. 176 people died in 176 accidents. Two or more people were killed simultaneously by suffocation or explosion. More than half of the people worked in the construction industry and died from accidents while building apartments, shopping malls, and public facilities.

287 people appeared in court. The court sentenced them to fines or an average of 7.3 months in prison and financial imprisonment for violating the San-An Law or negligent manslaughter. However, most of them were released after being sentenced to “4 months in prison, 1 year of probation” or “6 months, 2 years”.

165 corporations were also responsible. The total amount of fines paid by individuals and corporations is 1.58 billion won. Dividing by the death toll, 8.69 million won was paid per person. Individuals paid an average of 5.18 million won and corporations paid an average of 5.53 million won. According to a previous report from the Ministry of Employment and Labor, individuals and companies accused of violating the Sanan Law in 2017 (including Shanghai and the Danprior Peninsula) were fined 4.2 million won and 5.24 million won, respectively. . The report said, “I wonder if proper deterrence (deterrence) will work with this number of fines,” but it is not much different now, three years later.

The Sanan Law enacted in 1967 was completely revised once with the death of Kim Yong-gyun at the Taean Thermal Power Plant in December 2018. According to the case where the so-called ‘Kim Yong-gyun Law’ came into effect On January 16 last year and the revised Sanan Law was applied, the incarceration period increased slightly to 8.3 months on average, but all were sentenced to escape arrest. Individuals and corporations paid an average of 4,200,000 won, which is more than 1 million won, less than the precedent under the old sanan law. The business community calls it “the best punishment in the world.”

In September of last year, the number of deaths from industrial accidents was 660, just 7 less than in the same period last year. There is a demand to dramatically increase the “cost” of death. Sanctions and fines commensurate with sales, managers’ sense of crisis that ‘I can go to jail’, and institutional innovation in which investigative agencies and courts accept workplace accidents as’ corporate crimes’. It is argued that such land can act as an incentive for companies to invest in “security.” Workers and experts believe that the enactment of the Serious Accident Penalty Law will be a turning point. However, as the ruling and opposition parties revoke their discussions, it is uncertain to deal with them during the extraordinary National Assembly until the 8th.