Gyeonggi Province Implements 'Safety and Health Management Responsible Officer Training' to Prevent Major Industrial Accidents

Choo Mi-ae, Gyeonggi Province Governor, urged safety and health management responsible officers in Gyeonggi Province to strengthen field-oriented major industrial accident prevention activities, including directly inspecting workplaces and conducting surprise inspections.

On the 21st, Gyeonggi Province conducted statutory duty training for safety and health management responsible officers at the Provincial Government Office.

At the training, Governor Choo Mi-ae, who participated in the education, stated, "I hope you will approach safety with action and commitment to implementation. Even with the same budget, safety is the most basic of all," and emphasized, "Of course, focusing on safety does not earn great praise or points, and it does not shine. However, the reason the province exists is to organize, guide, and supplement work that does not shine."

She continued, "When I was Minister of Justice, I applied the brakes when the National Assembly rushed to pass the Serious Accident Punishment Act, saying that safety aims to ensure safety itself, not punishment as an end. I meant that detailed manuals should first be prepared, compliance with those manuals should be administratively checked and supplemented, and finally strict punishment should follow as a last resort. I also stated that establishing a field safety management and supervision system and an administrative system to oversee and supervise it should be a priority task."

Governor Choo added, "Safety accidents occur as a result of our failure to invest resources and negligence in advance, not by mere chance," and "It is not too late even now. I urge you executives to pay more attention to the field, conduct surprise inspections, and systematically respond in a manner suited to the field."

Approximately 70 people, including Governor Choo, provincial bureau heads and directors, and heads of public institutions, attended the training. This is statutory duty training under Article 32 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, designed to enhance the role of safety and health management responsible officers and improve their field safety management capabilities.

The Korea Industrial Safety Association, designated as an agency for duty training by the Ministry of Employment and Labor, conducted the training. Major content included key provisions of the Serious Accident Punishment Act and Occupational Safety and Health Act, major accident cases and prevention measures, risk assessment and safety and health management systems, roles of management responsible officers, and field safety management.

Beyond merely completing statutory training, Gyeonggi Province focused the training on spreading a safety management culture where life and safety are the top priorities, and managers and workers together improve risk factors discovered in the field. Public institutions and invested or funded institutions, which are separate mandatory compliance entities under the Serious Accident Punishment Act, were also allowed to apply and complete the training.

Going forward, Gyeonggi Province plans to continue improving the safety and health management systems of provincial workplaces and carry forward major industrial accident prevention activities so that the province's safety and health management practices can be expanded to the private sector.