47% have less than one year of investigative experience
Amendments to the Code of Criminal Procedure have granted workplace safety inspectors the authority to conduct independent investigations, but nearly half of them have less than one year of investigative experience.
As of September, 741 of the 1,576 active workplace safety inspectors — 47 percent — had less than one year of investigative experience, according to Yonhap. By comparison, only 17 percent of general police investigators fell into that category.
Among workplace safety inspectors, 247 (15.7 percent) had between one and three years of experience, 198 (12.6 percent) between three and five years, 295 (18.7 percent) between five and 10 years, and 95 (6 percent) 10 years or more.
Workplace safety inspectors are special judicial police officers under the Ministry of Employment and Labor who inspect workplaces at high risk of industrial accidents and oversee compliance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act and related regulations.
Until now, they operated under prosecutorial direction throughout the entire investigative process — from filing charges and questioning suspects to conducting searches and seizures and transferring cases. The revision to the Code of Criminal Procedure eliminated that prosecutorial oversight, giving inspectors an independent investigative framework.
However, only 24.7 percent of workplace safety inspectors have five or more years of investigative experience, raising concerns about professional competence.
The workforce also skews heavily toward junior ranks.
As of last month, only three inspectors held Grade 4 (senior administrator) positions or above, and 95 held Grade 5. The majority were at Grade 6 (407) and Grade 7 (975), with some at Grade 8 (82) and Grade 9 (14). Labor inspectors — who handle wage theft, unfair labor practices and workplace harassment — similarly had large numbers with limited investigative experience.
As of August, 730 of the 2,488 active labor inspectors — 29.3 percent — had less than one year of investigative experience.
Those with one to three years of experience numbered 405 (16.3 percent), those with three to five years 467 (18.8 percent), and those with five or more years 886 (35.6 percent).
The Ministry of Employment and Labor said it plans to expand the inspector workforce to around 8,000 by 2028 and build a three-tier investigative management system — including collaboration with prosecutors — to address concerns about legal quality.
In addition, the ministry plans to establish investigative review committees at its headquarters and seven regional offices, with participation from outside experts in investigation and law. Next year, it also intends to create the country's first dedicated labor investigation training institution, tentatively named the Labor Investigation Training Center.
kimstar@heraldcorp.com
