Workplace accidents in Korea for 2023 hit 10-year high

A total of 136,796 workers in South Korea suffered work-related accidents last year, government data showed Friday, marking the highest figure in the past 10 years.

The number of occupational accidents in the country increased by 11.4 percent from 128,379 in 2022, according to Ministry of Employment and Labor data submitted to Rep. Kim So-hee of the ruling People Power Party. Occupational accidents in the country have increased every year since surpassing 100,000 in 2018.

Defined in Article 5-1 of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, an occupational accident refers to any injury, disease or death of a worker caused by an occupational reason. The government has been tallying the data since 1975, which had decreased substantially since hovering above 140,000 in the 1980s.

In a bid to curb work-related hazards, South Korea enacted the Serious Accidents Punishment Act in 2021 that came into effect in 2022. Despite this, however, Kim pointed out that the number of industrial accidents has still been climbing in recent years.

She pointed out that 68,413 people have sustained a work-related injury or death this year, saying that this year's number could go higher than that of last year.

"Even after the enactment of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, the occupational accidents have been consistently increasing. ... There need to be effective preventive measures to prevent such accidents, and to ensure safety at work," she said.

The data showed that in 2023, the manufacturing industry had the greatest number of occupational accidents out of all fields at 32,967, closely followed by 32,353 in construction. Smaller business tended to have more accidents, as demonstrated by 56,514 accidents in enterprises that had between five and 49 employees, and 38,480 at businesses with fewer than five workers.

Incheon, Gyeonggi Province and Gangwon Province -- overseen by the Jungbu Regional Office of Employment and Labor -- had 50,379 occupational accidents, followed by 23,625 in Busan. The Seoul Regional Office of Employment and Labor registered 8,295 accidents in the country's capital.

The number of deaths via occupational accidents marked 2,016 in 2023, down from 2,223 the previous year.