A new framework for building safety design tailored to the characteristics of individual industries and workplaces has drawn attention.
The Korea Institute of Design Promotion (KIDP), led by President Kang Yun-ju, developed an "Industrial Safety Design Roadmap" based on an analysis of 641,007 big data cases and released it Thursday.
A key feature of the roadmap is its reorganization of the 25 encyclopedic accident types from the existing Korean Statistical Information Service (KOSIS) into five major accident clusters centered on spatial and physical context. Cluster 1 covers falls, trips and falling objects; Cluster 2 covers entrapment, entanglement and collisions; and Cluster 3 covers collapses, fires and explosions. Cluster 4 addresses exposure to hazardous substances and occupational disease, while Cluster 5 covers emergency and exceptional situations and management failures — forming the basis for individual safety design standards.
To establish effective standards, researchers led by Lee Hyeon-seong, a professor at Hongik University's Public Design Research Center, conducted a comprehensive review of 641,007 KOSIS macro-level statistics and 3,487 accident cases over five years (2020–2024) across four major industries — manufacturing, construction, shipbuilding and services — drawn from the Industrial Safety Portal.
The roadmap was validated by a multidisciplinary advisory panel of experts in design, industrial and human engineering, and safety engineering, with practitioners including policy officials, administrators and safety designers also taking part. Short-, medium- and long-term design strategies were presented so the roadmap can be applied according to the characteristics of each industry and workplace.
Based on the analyzed accident data, the research team systematized 204 detailed accident subtypes, then built a "3R" framework: preparedness (Ready) before an accident, response (Response) when one occurs, and recovery (Recovery) afterward. Applying this framework across each subtype yielded a total of 612 detailed design items.
From these, 30 priority tasks with high urgency and broad applicability were selected as the final "Top 30 Core Tasks." Taking into account ripple effects and on-site feasibility, the tasks are organized into a phased roadmap: 13 short-term, 10 medium-term and 7 long-term.
"We have already provided safety design support to 36 companies and confirmed high satisfaction rates and accident-prevention effects," KIDP President Kang said. "Through government attention and investment, we need to extend these results to the roughly 500,000 domestic manufacturing companies nationwide."
freiheit@heraldcorp.com
