Five industries targeted as threshold drops from 50 to 20 employees

Existing staff and outsourcing options under review; activity-based standards to ensure effectiveness

Government support for labor and training costs planned; final scale and timeline awaited

Ryu Hyeon-cheol, head of the Ministry of Employment and Labor's Industrial Safety and Health Bureau, visits a construction site in Jung-gu, Seoul, to emphasize compliance with the five basic cold-weather safety rules for preventing cold-related illnesses during winter. [Ministry of Employment and Labor]
Ryu Hyeon-cheol, head of the Ministry of Employment and Labor's Industrial Safety and Health Bureau, visits a construction site in Jung-gu, Seoul, to emphasize compliance with the five basic cold-weather safety rules for preventing cold-related illnesses during winter. [Ministry of Employment and Labor]

The obligation to appoint dedicated safety and health managers — currently applied to workplaces with 50 or more employees — is set to be extended to those with 20 or more workers in five industries, including manufacturing, according to labor circles.

The Industrial Safety and Health Committee under the Economic, Social and Labor Council, which is tasked with improving the effectiveness of industrial accident prevention at small workplaces, is in the final stages of coordinating a tripartite agreement to that effect, labor sources said Monday. Broad consensus has formed around expanding the appointment obligation, with discussions now focused on the specifics of how the system would operate and what support would be provided to affected workplaces. The tripartite body is expected to announce the agreement this week.

Under current rules, the obligation to appoint safety and health managers varies by industry but generally applies to workplaces with 50 or more full-time employees. The proposal under discussion would extend this requirement to workplaces with 20 or more employees in five sectors: manufacturing, forestry, sewage and wastewater treatment, waste collection and recycling, and environmental remediation. These are industries that already require workplaces with between 20 and 49 employees to designate a safety and health officer.

The central challenge is ensuring that smaller workplaces can actually meet the expanded obligation. Requiring every workplace to hire separate safety and health managers would significantly increase labor costs. Options being considered include allowing businesses to use their existing safety and health officers or to outsource the duties to specialized agencies.

However, concerns have been raised that simply designating a person or contracting out the work may not be enough to ensure meaningful safety and health management in practice. The final agreement is expected to set out specific requirements that must be met when existing staff or outside agencies are used.

Government financial support is also a key part of the discussions. Plans are being reviewed to subsidize labor costs, training expenses and safety program operating costs at small workplaces to ease the burden of the expanded mandate. The support package is estimated at around 100 billion won ($74.9 million), though not all of that would represent new fiscal spending, as some of the budget would be linked to existing outsourcing support programs.

How small workplaces will secure the time and resources needed to carry out safety and health duties is also under discussion. Even when existing staff or outsourcing arrangements are used, clear activity standards and a solid support framework will be needed to translate the expanded obligation into genuine improvements in workplace accident prevention.

Once the committee reaches an agreement, the proposal will still need to be approved by the full Economic, Social and Labor Council and followed by regulatory changes by the government. A social agreement alone does not immediately alter the legal obligations of workplaces, meaning the specific scope of application, implementation timeline and transitional measures will all need to be finalized through subsequent procedures.


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