Our Practice provides a comprehensive legal service on issues relating to the Occupational Safety and Health Act (the “OSHA”), the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, the Act on the Safety Control of Hazardous Substances, the High-Pressure Gas Safety Control Act, and other statutes on firefighting, construction safety, electrical safety and energy safety.

General Advisory Services

Our Practice advises clients on establishing OSH policies and internal regulations that are tailored to their specific businesses and risk profiles under the OSH regime of Korea.  We also advise on the following matters:

• Statutory applications and authoritative interpretations of laws and regulations

• Technology to prevent occupational accidents, etc.

• Development of OSH policies

• Implementation and amendment of OSH-related standards, including policies, guidelines and internal regulations

• Compliance with regulations on high-pressure gases and dangerous articles within workplace

Compliance Audit

Businesses have to constantly develop and execute business plans in the face of challenging market and regulatory environments, which can involve, among others, the installation or transfer of plants.  Our Practice advises companies on conducting compliance audits to ensure that their business plans are implemented without interference and to identify in advance (and improve, as applicable) OSH-related weaknesses that may expose companies, their officers and their employees to civil or criminal liabilities.  The following are examples of our services.

• Compliance audit and consultation on licenses for the establishment, expansion and transfer of business places

• Evaluation of internal regulations and compliance audit (including with respect to the affiliates in and out of Korea and business partners)

• “Health check” on operational systems such as the Occupational Safety and Health Committee, and appointment of managers who oversee safety, health and firefighting

• Hazard identification, risk assessment and remediation measures

• Analysis and diagnosis of occupational illness issues

• Review of OSH issues in collective bargaining agreements

• Response to safety certifications and safety inspections

Accident Response

The occurrence of a serious accident or serious industrial accident – whether caused by falling from high heights, getting caught in or between machines, devices, or tools, or resulting from a fire, explosion, or chemical accident, among others – at a business place can give rise to a number of challenging legal issues, such as the civil and criminal liability of the management, administrative sanctions including immediate employment or work suspension order, and settlement with victims and their families for civil damages.  Our Practice helps our clients respond to such accidents by promptly identifying facts and causes, conducting risk analysis and proposing solutions to help normalize companies’ business operations.  Our major consultation topics are listed below.

• Analysis of sanctions and response measures in connection with government supervision and inspection

• Response measures to fatal accidents at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, police and prosecution levels respectively

• Response measures to administrative impositions (administrative fine, suspension of business, work, and employment, and early lifting thereof, and special supervision) and litigation

• Consultation on response measures to epidemiological surveys and the Illness Diagnosis Commission on occupational illness

• Analysis of labor-management issues and recommendations for response measures

• Analysis of complaints by local communities and civic groups and recommendations for response measures

• Comprehensive consultation for media-related matters such as the preparation of press releases and interview response measures

Information Services

We provide our clients with regular updates, and keep our clients informed of key legislations and amendments as well as relevant developments in regulatory oversight by the relevant regulatory authorities.  We also provide training sessions prescribed under the OSHA as well as OSH-related lectures customized to our clients’ needs.

• Provision of updates on legislations and amendments (legislative developments, summary, analysis on business implications)
• Provision of key information from competent authorities (legislative developments, policies, labor trends, etc.)
• Provision of lectures and training sessions

Our Practice’s key clients include the following:

• Manufacturers with production facilities

• Construction companies with new construction, expansion and maintenance projects

• Logistics companies using high-risk machinery and equipment

• Companies storing, using and/or manufacturing oil, dangerous goods, chemical substances and/or related products

• Companies hiring many workers engaged in emotional labor (finance, distribution, etc.)

• Companies operating research facilities

Representative works that our Practice has advised on include the following:

• Advised a chemical company and a semiconductor company on occupational accident issues including a consultation for an epidemiological survey 

• Consulted a semiconductor company on the acknowledgement of an occupational accident regarding an employee’s death 

• Represented logistics, energy, chemical and other companies in responding to various accident types, such as explosion, fire, suffocation, fall and chemical leakage (provided support for agreements with victims’ families, aided in responding to administrative sanctions, including special supervision and work suspension orders, and to agencies such as the media and the National Assembly, and conducted liability assessment and presented arguments in civil and criminal proceedings)

• Represented a construction company in connection with response measures following an accident at a construction site

• Advised a semiconductor company in connection with a workplace accident investigation

• Advised a nonferrous metal company in handling a workplace accident investigation

• Prepared accident response manuals tailored for companies in a number of different industries

• Audited OSH compliance system of a semiconductor company’s plant in the People’s Republic of China 

• Conducted a compliance audit for a pharmaceutical company and a food company on the OSHA, the Act on the Safety Control of Hazardous Substances and the High-Pressure Gas Safety Control Act, and advised on improvement measures 

• Represented construction companies in providing a comprehensive response including reviewing legal risks concerning the deaths of employees caused by falling at worksites and forming agreements with the victims’ families 

• Consulted various companies such as a cosmetics company and a logistics company on their safety and health management system, including the appointment of safety and health managers 

• Assessed the status of compliance (including compliance with respect to the SAPA) on behalf of an electronics goods manufacturer

• Advised a semiconductor company on employer liability issues regarding occupational accidents 

• Reviewed the improvement of safety and health management system of a food company and a machinery company 

• Developed OSH-related internal regulations and checklists for a logistics company. 

• Prepared customized manuals on responses to fatal accidents for different types of companies in various industries

• Reviewed voluntary safety report obligation issues for an energy company and a chemical company

• Drafted customer service employee protection manuals for a logistics company and a machinery company

• Conducted training sessions on the OSHA and safety and health management issues for employees of several companies in the chemical, food, finance and entertainment industries 

• Advised a steel company on a project for the establishment of an EHS compliance system in accordance with the OSHA

• Advised an automobile parts company on establishing a safety and health management system and a protocol for managing subcontractors

• Advised a chemical company in conducting safety and health risk analysis, performing site inspection, and establishing processes for improving its management system

• Advised a leading general trading company in connection with risk assessment under the OSHA regarding subcontracting arrangements and establishing processes for the remediation of identified risks