[Newsmaker] Moon’s goal to curb workplace deaths gets more elusive

President Moon Jae-in’s election campaign promise to halve the number of fatal industrial accidents during his term appears to be increasingly out of reach, data showed.

In the first three months of this year, 238 workers died from industrial accidents, down 5.9 percent on-year, according to data from the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency released Wednesday.

Some 49.2 percent of deaths occurred in the construction sector, followed by 18.9 percent in the manufacturing industry and 17.6 percent in the service sector.

“Falls” accounted for 46.6 percent of all fatal accidents reported from January to March this year, followed by “being stuck,” then collision- and explosion-related deaths.

Moon pledged to halve the annual number to the 500 mark when taking office in May 2017, but his administration has for years struggled and failed to curtail the industrial accident death toll.

Last year, 882 workers were killed on the job, a rise of 27 deaths from a year earlier. There were 964 and 969 deaths in 2017 and 2016, respectively.

To meet his original ambition, this year’s figure should stay close to 616 deaths, but more than 200 cases have already been reported in the first quarter.

The Labor Ministry, which has its own separate goal, put their target for the year to below 705 cases, or 20 percent lower than last year’s tally.

During Moon’s term, government measures to improve workplace safety had only fallen short of bringing the wanted outcome, even with support from the legislative branch.

The National Assembly in January passed a bill to enhance employer liability in industrial accidents, but the law will only officially take effect next year. There is also an additional two-year grace period for small-sized businesses with between five and 49 employees.

The Labor Ministry plans to boost its budget on supporting businesses for industrial accident prevention and establish a new body in charge of investigating fatal and serious industrial disasters. But swift change is unlikely as discussions for the new rules and funds effectively only started last year.

The number of occupational accidents is projected to fall noticeably once all of these measures are in place, the ministry said. That will only come next year, when a little more than five months remain before Moon’s presidential term ends.

Labor unions have asked for stronger regulations on the small-size businesses that are granted the grace period, as they account for much of the industrial accidents reported in the country.

“The reason the number of deaths from industrial accidents didn’t drop is that the government has avoided and failed to launch effective measures and impose strong regulatory framework,” the Korean Confederation of Trade Unions said in a press briefing last week.

“That is why industrial disasters and deaths keep repeating at these industrial sites riddled with short-term contracts and complicated labor relations.”

The ruling Democratic Party has hinted its lawmakers will soon pass more laws to prompt the businesses with grace periods to take more responsibility in preventing industrial accidents before the revision takes effect.

“We are aware of concerns that the industrial accident law will not be effective on small- and medium-sized industrial sites, accounting for 80 percent of all related deaths,” said Rep. Kang Byung-won in a meeting Monday, promising to enact more amendments.

By Ko Jun-tae (ko.juntae@heraldcorp.com)