Industrial Accident Fatality | An Industrial Accident Fatality Occurred, and the Responsible Parties Were Defended to Avoid a Custodial Sentence

The clients requested defense regarding a recent industrial accident death incident.

The incident occurred at an apartment construction site that the client's company had been awarded and was working on.

A worker fell while working at the apartment construction site and died.

The clients, as the business owner and the site manager, were charged with causing the victim's death by failing to fulfill their duty to take safety measures at the site.

-A business owner must provide and have workers wear a safety helmet and a safety harness when they work in a place with a risk of falling from a height of two meters or more.

-Protective measures such as safety railings, fences, vertical fall-prevention nets, or covers must be firmly installed with a structure of sufficient strength in places where a worker is at risk of falling.

-There is a duty of care to ensure that the above safety measures are carried out at the construction site.

Industrial accident death refers to a case in which a worker dies due to structures, facilities, raw materials, or the like related to the work.

Where a person causes the death of another through occupational negligence, under Article 268 of the Criminal Act, that person may be subject to imprisonment without labor for up to five years or a fine not exceeding 20 million won.

Business owners and contractors must take all safety and health measures to prevent industrial accidents.

Where a worker's death is caused by a violation of this duty, under the 🔗Occupational Safety and Health Act, one may be subject to imprisonment for up to seven years or a fine not exceeding 100 million won.

In cases involving violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, courts determine that the person actually responsible for on-site safety and health management is the subject of punishment. Generally, this applies to the on-site responsible person, such as the factory manager, site manager, or facility manager.

Even a representative director may not be a subject of punishment if he did not directly participate in on-site work and had delegated safety management responsibility.

In fact, the Uijeongbu District Court has held that, in a case where the site manager bore safety management responsibility, the representative director bore no liability for the violation. (Uijeongbu District Court 2004No1726)

In addition, even after the enforcement of the 🔗Serious Accidents Punishment Act, the standard for determining who is the actor in a violation of the Occupational Safety and Health Act has not changed.

Both the courts and the Ministry of Employment and Labor determine the subject of punishment by comprehensively considering factors such as the company's division of duties, whether authority was delegated, and whether actual management was exercised.

In short, the person who actually managed safety and health on site is the subject of punishment.

The industrial accident specialist attorney argued that the clients readily admitted all of the charges in the indictment and were sincerely reflecting on their conduct.

The clients are resolved to implement all safety measures so that industrial accidents do not occur in the future.

In fact, the clients readily admitted all of the charges in the indictment from the time of the first investigation and acknowledged all the facts without concealment.

The industrial accident specialist attorney emphasized the facts above and requested leniency.

The industrial accident specialist attorney emphasized that the clients conducted safety training regularly.

To prove that safety training had been carried out, the attorney in charge submitted as evidence the daily safety training logs, safety training confirmation forms, and the like.

The industrial accident attorney argued that the clients had given top priority to preventing accidents in advance and had done their best in safety management, but that they had taken out workers' accident compensation liability insurance to prepare for unavoidable, unforeseen accidents.

The attorney in charge emphasized that the clients held workers' accident insurance with a coverage limit of 500 million won and that a claim for the insurance proceeds had already been filed, noting that this could be of significant help in the recovery of the bereaved family's losses.