CONTENTS
- 1. Serious Civil Accident | An Accident That Threatens a Company's Survival
- 2. Serious Civil Accident | The Statutory Definition of a Serious Civil Accident
- - The Scope of ‘Raw Materials and Manufactured Products’ and the Structure of Liability
- - The Scope of ‘Public-Use Facilities’ and ‘Public Transportation’
- - Examples of Application of Serious Civil Accident Rules
- 3. Serious Civil Accident | Substantial Control, Operation, and Management That Determines Liability
- - The Scope of the Responsible Managing Officer
- 4. Serious Civil Accident | Key Response Duties of Business Owners and Responsible Managing Officers
- - How to Secure Safety Measures According to the Cause of an Accident
- 5. Serious Civil Accident | Duty Compliance Checklist
- - Examples of Raw Materials and Manufactured Products Requiring Established Work Procedures
- 6. Serious Civil Accident | Criminal Punishment and Civil Damages
- - The Importance of Support From a Lawyer Experienced in Serious Accidents
1. Serious Civil Accident | An Accident That Threatens a Company's Survival
Once a serious civil accident occurs, it can threaten the very survival of a company.
If a small defect at the manufacturing or distribution stage, or a small lapse in facility or transportation management, leads to large-scale loss of life, neither the responsible managing officer, such as the representative director, nor the corporation as a whole can be free from criminal and civil liability.
The serious civil accident defined in the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, enacted in 2022, broadly covers the entire course of corporate operations, from raw materials and manufactured products to public-use facilities and public transportation, so companies must systematically establish and document a safety and health assurance system in advance.
2. Serious Civil Accident | The Statutory Definition of a Serious Civil Accident
Under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, a serious civil accident is an accident caused by a defect in the design, manufacture, installation, or management of a specific raw material, manufactured product, public-use facility, or public transportation, where one of the following applies.
The Scope of ‘Raw Materials and Manufactured Products’ and the Structure of Liability
- Chemical product accidents: cases where a hazardous component of a chemical raw material remained in the product and caused fatal harm to the body during use
- Product component defect accidents: accidents in which home appliances, electric-vehicle batteries, and the like catch fire or explode
- Stage-by-stage liability: raw material manufacturers, finished-product manufacturers, and sales and distribution businesses may all fall within the scope of liability depending on intent or negligence
The Serious Accidents Punishment Act does not separately limit the specific scope of raw materials and manufactured products.
Therefore, virtually all raw materials and manufactured products, including chemical substances, food additives, components, and finished products, are covered.
Even items that appear to pose no harm to the body, such as automobiles, elevators, and bottled drinking water, can newly give rise to harm to the body if a defect in design, manufacture, or management exists, so the same management duty applies.
In addition, the entire process of production, manufacturing, sale, and distribution is covered.
Therefore, not only the final-product manufacturer but also raw material suppliers and sales and distribution businesses may bear liability for a defect in management.
However, accidents caused by the user's gross carelessness, or natural disasters such as earthquakes and heavy rain under the ‘Framework Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety,’ fall outside the company's substantial scope of management and are therefore excluded from the application of the law.
The Scope of ‘Public-Use Facilities’ and ‘Public Transportation’
- Collapse or fire at a large commercial facility: structural defects or poor fire safety management in department stores, shopping malls, and multi-use buildings
- Safety accidents at performance halls and gymnasiums: spectator falls, falling structures, and the like
- Spread of infectious disease within a medical institution: mass infection due to the absence of an infectious-disease management system
Public-use facilities include almost all facilities used by many people, such as large shopping malls, performance halls, subway stations, underground shopping centers, libraries, museums, medical institutions, and airport passenger terminals.
A facility is subject to the law if it meets or exceeds the standard set by Presidential Decree according to its scale or nature.
Public transportation covers the full range of transportation used by an unspecified number of people, such as urban railway cars, railway passenger cars, route buses, passenger ships, and aircraft.
Examples include major traffic accidents caused by vehicle component defects and inadequate maintenance, leaks of toxic gas, and the like.
If both the manufacturing and operating managers have failed to fulfill their management duties, liability is not divided but may apply to them at the same time.
Examples of Application of Serious Civil Accident Rules
The following are cases in which deaths or injuries occurred due to defects in raw materials and manufactured products, and the like, before the Serious Accidents Punishment Act was enacted.
If the Serious Accidents Punishment Act were hypothetically applied to these cases, the following assessments would be possible.
① An internal explosion of a transformer-rectifier causing 1 death and 1 person with severe burns
If treated as an accident caused by a manufacturing defect, liability may be assigned by assessing the presence of personnel to inspect hazards and risk factors, whether there were personnel for the proper performance of duties, the measures taken by the business owner, and similar factors
② Lung damage to mothers and infants caused by humidifier disinfectant, resulting in 1,724 deaths
The causal link between the humidifier disinfectant and the lung damage was confirmed, and punishment may be possible where measures were not taken without inspecting hazards and risk factors
③ A hydrofluoric acid gas leak causing 5 deaths and 7,162 minor injuries among workers, local residents, and others
A matter that may be punishable under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act if a defect in raw material management, or similar factor, is found to be a breach of the business owner's safety and health assurance duty
3. Serious Civil Accident | Substantial Control, Operation, and Management That Determines Liability
Liability for a serious civil accident is determined by whether a party ‘substantially controls, operates, and manages.’
Generally, a party is regarded as exercising substantial control, operation, and management if the following conditions apply.
1) Where the party holds rights such as ownership, possession, or leasehold over the place, facility, or equipment
2) Where the party can control the hazards and risk factors arising from the raw materials or manufactured products it produces, manufactures, sells, or distributes
3) Where the party bears a duty to manage the facility safely through repair and reinforcement
This standard is especially important when liability must be assigned by stage in accidents involving raw materials and manufactured products.
The Scope of the Responsible Managing Officer
Under the law, a ‘responsible managing officer’ means a person who represents and oversees the business, or who holds equivalent final decision-making authority over the assurance of safety and health.
This ordinarily applies to a company's representative director, but it also includes any executive who, even if not the representative director, substantially directs and supervises safety and health work and gives final approval to the duties.
The same standard applies to public institutions, heads of local governments, and representatives of local public enterprises.
4. Serious Civil Accident | Key Response Duties of Business Owners and Responsible Managing Officers
Responsible managing officers must faithfully carry out the following duties.
1. Establishing and implementing a safety and health management system
-Forming a safety management organization, designating a responsible person, and establishing an implementation plan
2. Securing sufficient personnel and budget
-Securing personnel for preventive inspection and accident response
-Reflecting a budget for facility reinforcement and inspection equipment
3. Establishing and implementing measures to prevent recurrence
-Identifying the cause immediately after an accident and preparing follow-up measures
4. Complying with corrective orders from relevant agencies and related laws
-Recording whether corrective orders were carried out and documenting inspection records
How to Secure Safety Measures According to the Cause of an Accident
The following may serve as examples of how to fulfill the duty to take safety measures according to the cause of an accident.
| Raw materials and manufactured products | Chemical components, electronic parts, home appliance explosions, and the like → Retaining manufacturing-stage safety verification documents, reviewing supply-chain safety, and strengthening warning labels |
| Public-use facilities | Large shopping malls, performance halls, spread of infectious disease within hospitals, and the like → Structural safety inspections, inspection of disaster-prevention equipment, and ongoing operation of sanitation and quarantine manuals |
Public transportation | Bus component defects and electric-train fires → Maintenance history management, advance inspection for defects, and stating liability clauses in outsourced maintenance contracts |
5. Serious Civil Accident | Duty Compliance Checklist
Article 9 of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act requires a system through which business owners and responsible managing officers can prove that they have carried out their duties.
The business owner must check for accident-risk factors through worksite walk-through inspections, interview surveys, safety and health checklists, and the like, and must respond and take action immediately when a warning sign arises.
The following are items that can be used in actual inspections, and it is advisable to record the inspection date and time, the inspection results, the measures taken, and the like.
The retention period is 5 years from the date the relevant measure was carried out.
Items to be carried out | |
Personnel assignment and task allocation | ① Facility and equipment safety management and maintenance work ② Safety management of hazardous-substance handling ③ Quality inspection and product safety management work ④ Inspection of hazards and risk factors and response work when a warning sign arises |
Budget formulation and execution | ① Budget for securing and maintaining safety management personnel ② Budget for securing and maintaining facilities and equipment ③ Budget for maintaining quality and technical standards ④ Budget for inspecting hazards and risk factors and for response work when a warning sign arises |
Establishing work procedures | ① Periodic inspection of hazards and risk factors ② Duty to report and take action on the results of identifying hazards and risk factors ③ Duty to report, notify, and take action when an accident occurs ④ Improvement measures based on accident cause investigation |
Management measures necessary to carry out statutory duties | ① Inspecting whether duties have been carried out ② Measures for non-performance |
Inspecting statutory training implementation | ① Inspecting training implementation ② Measures for non-performance |
Examples of Raw Materials and Manufactured Products Requiring Established Work Procedures
6. Serious Civil Accident | Criminal Punishment and Civil Damages
If a serious civil accident occurs because the safety and health assurance duties were not carried out, the business owner and responsible managing officer bear liability for criminal punishment and damages.
The Importance of Support From a Lawyer Experienced in Serious Accidents
A serious civil accident arrives without warning.
Preventive measures, substantial records, and proof of implementation can serve as an effective shield protecting the responsible managing officer.
A company should keep in mind that every part of its business operations can become a risk factor and should treat the ‘duty to assure safety and health’ as a top priority of management.
Our firm's Industrial Safety and Serious Accidents Group provides professional support, from diagnosis of serious civil accident response and design of a safety and health management system to defense when an accident occurs.
By forming a task force that includes lawyers experienced in serious accidents, criminal-law lawyers, labor attorneys, and others, we will provide the comprehensive support needed for serious civil accident response together with our business-owner clients.
If you have any questions, please reach out to Daeryun, where consultation with a lawyer is available throughout the year.
