South Korea Serious Accidents Punishment Act has tiger teeth
South Korea joined the club
Three years ago, I was privileged to be interviewed by TV Producer, Gina McDonald, working for the Munhwa Broadcasting Corporation - South Korea’s second-largest public broadcaster - who was making a TV documentary programme on Corporate Manslaughter and Corporate Homicide Health and Safety.
At the time, South Korea was joining the UK, Australia and Canada in enacting corporate manslaughter legislation (as reported in Arinite’s November 2021 International Blog).Â
Serious Accident Punishment Act
The Serious Accidents Punishment Act duly came into force in 2022 and holds business owners, managers, and companies criminally liable if a serious accident occurs due to a failure to meet their duty of care to ensure safety (referring to serious industrial or civic accidents). Punishments vary depending on the severity of the accident and can include significant fines and imprisonment for example:
- Penalties for individuals: A person in charge can face imprisonment of at least one year for a single employee death, with potential for up to 1 billion-Won in fines (~£500,000 GBP at the time of writing).
- Penalties for companies: A company can be fined up to 5 billion-Won in the event of a fatality (~£2,500,000 GBP at the time of writing).
- Punitive damages: In cases of intentional or gross negligence, punitive damages of up to five times the actual damages may be imposed.
Battery maker CEO sentenced to 15 years in prison over deadly plant fire
In the heaviest sentence since the introduction of the Act, the chief executive of lithium battery maker Aricell has been sentenced to 15 years in prison over a deadly fire at the company's plant last year that claimed 23 lives. Suwon District Court handed the sentence to Aricell CEO Park Soon-kwan. Prosecutors had earlier sought a 20-year term, arguing that Aricell executives made changes to the plant that made it difficult for workers to escape the blaze, such as installing a false wall in an evacuation route.
The court also said Park rarely made instructions to his son, a general manager of the company, about worker safety, commenting that the fire was an accident waiting to happen. The court sentenced Park's son to 15 years in prison and a 1 million-Won fine on charges of violating South Korea’s Occupational Safety and Health Act and occupational negligence resulting in death or injury.
At the time of the fire, the Aricell factory housed an estimated 35,000 battery cells on its second floor, where batteries were inspected and packaged. As lithium fires can react intensely with water, firefighters had to use dry sand to fight the fire, which took several hours to get under control.
Read more
Our June 2023 International Blog tells more about Arinite’s relationship with Korea Industrial Safety Association (KISA). In case you were wondering about the title of this month’s blog, the tiger is seen by Koreans as a significant symbol of power, strength, and guardianship.
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