Q. What is establishment and implementation of a safety and health management system?
The establishment and implementation of a safety and health management system refer to
a series of activities aimed at protecting the safety and health of workers
This involves companies identifying on their own initiative
to eliminate, replace and control risk factors
and continuously improving these measures
To establish a safety and health management system
1. Management Leadership 2. Participation of Workers 3. Hazards Identification
4. Elimination, Replacement, and Control of Hazards 5. Establishment of Emergency Action Plans
6. Safety and Health for Contract, Service and Agreement 7. Evaluation and Improvement
These seven core elements must be observed
We will look into the first core element
which is Management Leadership, and execution strategies and method for it ​
To establish and implement an effective safety and health management system
Managers must provide a vision
and allocate resources such as personnel and facilities
The first execution strategy of management leadership is
to show determination for safety and health and setting goals
According to Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and
Article 4, Item 1 of the Enforcement Decree, business owners and management executives must
establish goals and management policies regarding safety and health
In accordance with Article 14 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, CEOs must annually establish safety and health plans
report them to the board of directors, obtain approval, and faithfully implement them
The second execution strategy is to allocate resources
such as personnel, facilities, and equipment necessary for safety and health
According to Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and Article 4, Item 4 of the Enforcement Decree
business owners and executives must allocate appropriate budgets annually for safety and health-related personnel
facilities, and equipment and establish a system for execution and management
Under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, Article 4, Paragraph 1 and Enforcement Decree, Article 4, Item 5
companies with a certain scale, specifically those with 500 or more regular workers
or construction companies with less than 200 construction capabilities, must establish a dedicated organization for safety and health tasks
The third execution strategy is to define the authority and responsibilities of members and encourage their participation
To achieve this, business owners and management executives must appoint
safety and health management personnel
and ensure that they carry out their duties diligently
According to Article 4, Paragraph 1 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and Article 4, Items 5 and 6 of the Enforcement Decree
business owners or executives must appoint safety managers, health managers, safety and health management officers, and industrial health engineers
and guarantee their working hours for the performance of their duties
The second execution method is for business owners and executives to
write safety and health management regulations to clarify responsibilities and establish standards for occupational injury prevention management
It applies to agriculture, fisheries, information services, finance and insuraces of more than 300 employees, or otherwise more than 100
The regulations should cover safety and health management organizations, their duties, safety and health education
workplace management, accident investigation, and countermeasures, depending on the industry and size of the company
The third execution method is to establish an industrial safety and health committee
to build a safety and health management system through labor-management participation
as mandated by Article 24 of the Occupationl Safety and Health Act
Industries such as mining and non-metallic mineral manufacturing, with 50 or more employees, while agriculture, information services, finance and insurances with 300 or more, are subjected
otherwise construction frims with more than 100 employees or project buget greater than 12 billion won are subjected
The deliberation and resolution of this comittee should include matters related to the
completion of occupational accident prevention plans, the draft and modification of safety and health management regulations, and safety and health education
The fourth execution method is to designate and employ safety and health management personnel, supervisors, safety managers
health managers, and industrial health engineers, and assign them roles
The Occupational Safety and Health Act defines the basic roles and formal procedures ​
for effective safety and health activities
These strategies and methods are visualized in diagrams as you can see
Now, we will examine the second core element for establishing a safety and health management system
which is strategies and methods for employee participation
Successful implementation of a safety and health management system requires
the active involvement of frontline workers who are most familiar with potential hazards
The first strategy for employee participation is to disclose information regarding safety and health management to all employees
To achieve this, business owners are required by Article 34 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act
to post or widely disseminate key provisions of the Act in places accessible to employees
The second strategy is to establish procedures accessible to all members
Business owners must listen to the opinions of employees at least once regarding safety and health enhancements
and develop improvement plans based on these opinions
except where industrial safety and health committees are in place for construction projects
For construction projects with a value exceeding 12 billion won
the prime contractor must establish and operate a labor-management consultative body with subcontractors' participation
Additionally, employee representatives can recommend fellow workers to be appointed as Honorary Industrial Safety Inspectors after consulting with employer
and this require approval from the Minister of Employment and Labor
Honorary industrial safety inspectors perform duties such as workplace inspections, reporting violations of laws and regulations
and providing guidance on compliance with safety rules ​
The third strategy is to foster a culture where employees can freely voice their opinions
and comply with employers' safety and health measures
Employees must comply with safety and health measures set by employers
which are detailed in regulations established under the Occupational Safety and Health Standards
Next, we will be exploring the execution strategies and methods for identifying hazards
which is the third core element of establishing a safety and health management system
Prevention of occupational accidents starts with identifying hazards
Therefore, having a thorough understanding of potential hazards and their severity lead to cautious work practices
The first strategy for identifying hazards is to collect and organize information about hazards
With the participation of frontline workers, hazards can be identified
Necessary data for hazard identification include
past accident reports, machinery and equipment inventories and manuals,
work procedures for each process, and the availability of safety equipments
The second strategy involves investigating all past industrial accidents, including near-misses, to identify hazards
Analyzing all industrial accidents and near-misses
within the workplace helps in identifying hazards
Near-misses refer to
incidents that could have caused harm to life or health but did not result in actual injuries
Despite repeated near-misses without improvement, they are typically considered potential industrial accidents
The third strategy is to identify hazardous machinery, equipment, and facilities
All machinery, equipment, and facilities within the workplace must be assessed for potential hazards
and when purchasing new equipment, choosing products designed for safety is crucial
The fourth strategy is to identify hazardous substances such as those posing fire
explosion, or leakage risks, as well as those harmful to health
Hazardous substances refer to those causing harm to safety and health
They are usually categorized into chemical, physical, biological, and ergonomic hazards
Appendix 18 of the Enforcement Regulation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act defines the harmfulness and risk classification criteria for such hazardous substances ​
Employers must verify the names, hazardous properties, and CAS numbers of chemical substances
in the mandatory safety data sheets provided by the chemical product manufacturers or importers
Physical factors such as noise, vibration, radiation, pressure, and temperature should be verified to ensure they are at appropriate levels
Biological factors and ergonomic factors, such as infectious diseases
and ergonomic stresses like musculoskeletal workload and job-related stress, should be assessed
The fifth strategy involves investigating hazardous locations and job-specific risk factors based on the participation of all members
Hazardous locations and tasks are identified in connection with machinery, equipment, harmful factors, and types of accidents
For example, injection molding machines may cause pinching injuries during repair work
and falling hazards may occur during scaffold installation
Tasks include routine tasks such as standardized operations and machine cleaning
and similarly non-routine tasks as well
while accidents include falling, pinching, hitting, impact, crushing, overturning, fire/explosion, leakage, suffocation, and heatstroke
From now on, fourth execution strategy and method for establishing a safety and health management system
which are risk factor removal, substitution, and control will be examined
When devising measures to remove, substitute, or control risk factors
It is particularly important to be aware that humans can make mistakes and machines can malfunction
The first strategy is to prioritize risk factors based on the likelihood and severity of occurrence
For this purpose, identified risk factors are classified by type and recorded and managed accordingly
Types of risk factors include hazardous machinery, hazardous locations, and types of tasks
Additionally, the likelihood and severity of occupational accidents for each risk factor are predicted to evaluate the degree of risk
Severity is assessed based on the magnitude of the accident and the degree of harm such as death, serious injury, and illness
Finally, risk factor prioritization is determined according to the evaluation results
The second strategy is to review removal, substitution, and control measures for each risk factor
For this purpose, regardless of the size of the workplace, if there are more than 1 employee
workplaces where workers are exposed to hazardous factors should
measure the working environment every 3 months to 1 year
If hazardous factors are found in the working environment measurement results
Control measures are reviewed in the order of removal, substitution, and control
Such as altering structures to eliminate the need for confined space work
or replacing methanol with ethanol to minimize the risk factors
Then, measures such as installing protective devices and ventilation systems to isolate workers from hazardous factors
and changing work procedures such as maintenance and introducing work permit systems are implemented
The third strategy is to develop and implement comprehensive measures
Therefore, after deciding removal, substitution, and control measures for each risk factor, resource allocation plans must be established
Hazardous machinery and equipment management require
Protective measures in accordance with Article 98, Paragraphs 1 and 2 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act
Safety certification and voluntary safety reporting under Articles 87 and 92
and safety inspections under Article 93
and hazardous risk prevention plans must be drafted according to Article 42
Furthermore, regulated substances, permitted substances, and controlled hazardous substances must be
used according to Part 1, Chapter 1 of the Occupational Safety and Health Regulations
If using more than the specified quantities of the 51 hazardous substances that can cause large-scale disasters
A process safety management plan must be submitted and implemented according to Article 44
The fourth strategy is to provide education and training to ensure that
each worker understands specific measures for removing, substituting, or controlling risk factor
According to Chapter 3 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act
Safety and health education must be provided to workers, specialized workers, and safety and health management personnel
Next, the fifth execution strategy and method for building a safety and health management system
which is establishing emergency response plans will be explored
By establishing emergency response plans to deal with major disasters, damages can be minimized
The first strategy for establishing emergency response plans is to create scenarios based on risk factors
For this purpose, potential accidents for each risk factor are reviewed
and accident scenarios are created for each workplace
The second strategy is to develop specific action plans for each accident scenario
In the event of a major disaster, immediate notification to the fire department and others is necessary
and employers must stop operations immediately and evacuate workers
A summary of the incident, damage situation, and measures and prospects must be reported to the local labor office without any delay
Workers who exercise the right to stop work must report to management supervisors
and employers must not dismiss or treat them unfairly as a result
The third strategy is to implement and verify emergency response plans regularly
To acheive this, response procedures for urgent risks, such as work stoppage, evacuation reporting, and risk factor removal, must be established
and procedures for reporting incidents of major industrial accidents must be set and checked at least once every 6 months
Additionally, for workplaces subject to PSM(Process Safety Management)
employers required to submit process safety reports including the establishment of emergency response plans
And lastly, contractors must establish emergency response plans
Next, let's examine the execution strategy and method for ensuring safety and health when subcontracting
which is the sixth key element for building a safety and health management system
Contracting refers to contracting out the manufacturing, construction, repair
or provision of services and other tasks to others, regardless of the name
A employer who contract manufacturing, construction, repair, or service provision of goods
and other tasks, is referred to as the contractor
And those who receive contract of manufacturing, construction, repair
and other tasks from the contractor, are referred as contractees
The first execution strategy for ensuring safety and health during these circumstances
is to select a business owner, namely the contractee, with industrial accident prevention capabilities
When business owner or executives are providing contract, service, or consignment to 3rd parties
they must establish evaluation criteria and procedures to verify the accident prevention capabilities, technical abilities, appropriate safety and health management costs, and performance periods
and then confirm and inspect their implementation
Additionally, business owners must contract to companies with the ability to take measures for industrial accident prevention
Construction project clients or contractors must not shorten the calculated construction period specified in design documents
or use risky construction methods to reduce construction costs or change designated construction methods without valid reasons
The second strategy is to protect all members within the workplace
To acheive this, when business owners or executive provide contract, service or consignment to 3rd parties
They must fulfill the obligation to secure safety and health to prevent major industrial accidents among the third party's employees
Contractors must take measures to prevent industrial accidents
if workers of the contractee are working at contractor's workplace
This includes designating a safety and health supervisor, implementing safety and health measures, implementing industrial accident prevention measures
providing safety and health information, and taking corrective measures against contractees
If the contractor violates safety and health measures
They may be subject to imprisonment for up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million won
If workers' death result due to a violation of obligations
They may be subject to imprisonment for up to seven years or a fine of up to 100 million won
Next, the 7th execution strategy and method for building a safety and health management system
which is evaluation and improvement, will be now explored
Business owners or executives must regularly review the status of implementing the safety and health management system
Identify problems, and continuously improve the system
The first strategy for evaluation and improvement is
To set up the objective for evaluating safety and health management system procedures
and assessing them on a regular basis
It is expected from the headquaters, every business departments, and every business locations
Objectives include the initiation count of management policies, employee awareness of safety and health management policies, identification of employee hazards,
number of near-miss accident reports, discovery of hazard occurrences, compliance rate of hazard removal management measures,
and implementation rate of occupational safety and health education
The second strategy involves verifying whether the safety and health management system is being implemented as planned on-site
To achieve this, the core elements such as management leadership, employee participation, and hazard identification
are examined comprehensively through interviews, document verification, and on-site inspections
The third strategy involves periodically reviewing and improving identified issues
For this purpose, business owners or executives must take managerial measures necessary for compliance
They should conduct safety and health regulations-related inspections at least once every 6 months
and report the results