I am a business owner. I have a question about the Severe Accident Punishment Act.

Hello, in the case of a severe industrial accident under the Severe Accident Punishment Act, whether the business owner or management responsible person is criminally punished and the level of punishment is determined depending on whether they have established a safety and health management system for preventing such accidents and properly implemented it.

According to the Severe Accident Punishment Act, business owners have the following obligations for site safety.

Business owners must faithfully fulfill obligations such as ▲securing personnel, budget, and organization for accident prevention ▲identifying and improving harmful and dangerous factors ▲establishing and implementing safety and health management systems ▲hearing and taking action on workers' opinions.

That is, punishment is not confirmed by the mere occurrence of an accident, but whether and the level of punishment is determined by examining how much the legal obligations have been fulfilled in advance.

Therefore, if it is objectively proven that the business owner has prepared a safety and health management system and conducted regular inspections and education to take substantive measures, the possibility of reduction or non-punishment is also open.

However, in practice, since legal interpretation and factual disputes are frequent, please obtain assistance from a specialist attorney with expertise related to the Severe Accident Punishment Act in the early stage to respond.