[Dailyan = Reporter Kim Sung-woong] On the 7th, the Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency announced that they will hold events nationwide emphasizing workers’ life and safety at the workplace for “Industrial Safety and Health Month” in July.
This year’s Industrial Safety and Health Month, under the slogan “A Safe Workplace, Everyone’s Happiness,” will be held at KINTEX in Ilsan for five days. Starting with a commemorative ceremony, events such as a Smart Safety and Health Expo and safety and health seminars are planned.
The commemorative ceremony was attended by National Assembly members Kim Joo-young, Park Jeong, Park Hae-chul, Park Hong-bae, and Woo Jae-jun from the Environment and Labor Committee. Additionally, 300 people, including those who have contributed to industrial accident prevention, labor-management relations personnel, scholars, and heads of disaster prevention organizations, attended to promote the culture of safety and commit to preventing industrial accidents on-site.
The government will award medals and commendations, such as the Order of Industrial Service Merit and the Presidential and Prime Minister’s Commendations, to 18 people who contributed to preventing industrial accidents. Woo Jong-sun, division head of Samyang Foods, received the Bronze Tower Order of Industrial Service Merit for his achievements in identifying and improving risk factors for potential accidents like entrapment hazards.
Furthermore, Lee Jeong-do, the plant manager at Vitzrosell, received the Industrial Medal for being a model example in preventing fire and explosion accidents at battery manufacturing plants, through substantial investments such as rebuilding the factory with firebreaks and single-layer structures and installing fluorescent escape guide lines and emergency lights.
This year, to spread excellent cases related to Artificial Intelligence (AI) and smart industrial safety technology, the existing “International Safety and Health Exhibition” has been rebranded as the “Smart Safety and Health Expo” and expanded in scale. At the expo, a “Smart Safety Zone” will be operated, providing opportunities to directly experience the latest safety technologies on-site.
In addition to the ceremony and expo, there will be 38 safety and health seminars for identifying policy directions and improvement tasks for industrial safety and health, as well as 13 sessions of presentations on excellent cases under themes such as smart safety and health technology, cooperation between large and small enterprises, and occupational health.
Starting from the second week of July, local events will be held nationwide at industrial sites on themes such as “Sharing Safety Culture between Large and Small Enterprises,” “Strengthening Safety Awareness for Vulnerable Groups,” and “Prevention of Heat-related Illnesses and Disasters during the Rainy Season.”
Kwon Chang-jun, Vice Minister of Employment and Labor, stated, “Protecting workers’ lives and health from industrial accidents is a responsibility for all of us, and creating a safe workplace should begin with thoroughly analyzing the root causes of accidents. We will expand workers’ participation, who know best about on-site risk factors, and promote policies that strengthen companies’ responsibilities and duties for safety.”