Review on Need for Introduction of New Legal Framework of Investigation and Criminal Sanctions for OSH Fatal Accidents

Current OSH system was analyzed in this paper to explain why high fatal incidents and disasters are continuously repeated for recent years in Korea. It was found that we have Dichotomous Perceptional Misconception of prevention before accident and compensation after accident and there is a significant lack of proper feed­back reward system for OSH performance. It was assumed that no reduction of accident rate and fatality rate have not been achieved recently despite of a great effort and increased resource allocations. Some statistics for proving weak punishment were analyzed. In the current system, the will of administrative agency would have been very limited particularly in the legal aspects. The Industrial Safety and Health Act is not suitable to after-injury punishment for employer and/or corporate since it is based on a framework for enforcement of prevention. Based on these analyses, it was concluded that there was a need to consider a special law for Corporate Accountability for Fatal Accidents. Because it is necessary to consider seriously for introduction of a new legal system for after injury punishment to repair the current system where it was found lack of proper feedback system. Also, there was no proper sanction measures for corporate with the current OSH legal system, and the most urgent problem in OSH area is the high fatality rate. it is necessary to consider seriously for introduction of a new legal system for after injury punishment. Also, there is no proper sanction measures for corporate with the current OSH legal system, and the most urgent problem in OSH area is the high fatality rate.