SEOUL-- Despite the enforcement of a landmark workplace safety law about a year ago, the number of worker deaths caused by serious industrial accidents at workplaces subject to the law increased last year, a government report showed Thursday.

The Serious Accidents Punishment Act took effect on Jan. 27 last year to punish employers and chief executives accused of failing to fulfill their duties to prevent fatal accidents.

Under the law, owners or CEOs of companies with 50 or more employees are subject to at least one year in prison or up to 1 billion won (US$810,000) in fines in the event of fatal on-duty disasters caused by lax workplace safety measures.

According to the report from the labor ministry, 644 workers died in 2022 due to 611 cases of major industrial accidents, marking a drop of 5.7 percent, or 39 persons, from 683 on-duty deaths of workers in the previous year.

But the number of on-duty deaths caused by serious industrial accidents at workplaces subject to the law increased 3.2 percent, or eight, from 248 in 234 cases in 2021 to 256 in 230 cases in 2022, it found.

The number of worker deaths at workplaces employing less than 50 people decreased by 10.8 percent, or 47, from 435 to 388 in the 2021-22 period, it added.

The workplace safety law was enacted for the purpose of reducing worker deaths, but the increase of fatal industrial accidents at companies regulated by the law seems to have raised questions about its effectiveness.

The report noted the number of worker deaths from large-scale fires and other accidents involving two or more deaths increased by 77.3 percent on-year to 39 last year.

Last year, the workplace safety law applied to 229 industrial accidents, and the labor ministry transferred 34 of them to the prosecution for indictments. Eighteen other cases were closed, and the remaining 177 cases are still under investigation.

Source: Yonhap News Agency