- Chungnam Province holds safe workplace expansion declaration ceremony, signs agreements with 8 cities/counties and 100 businesses

Pledges to eliminate on-site hazards and build an AI-based occupational safety and health management system 

Chungnam Province has joined hands with local governments and businesses to realize "safe and restful happy workplaces" centered on the prevention of serious industrial accidents.

The province held the "Serious Industrial Accident Prevention and Safe Workplace Expansion Declaration Ceremony" on the 19th at Resom Splas Resom in Yesan, where it signed practical agreements with local governments and business sites.

This declaration ceremony was designed to concretely apply this year's Chungnam Labor-Management-Civil-Government Joint Declaration to actual workplaces and comprehensively spread safety culture across industrial fields.

Attended by approximately 250 people—including Governor Park Soo-hyun, Provincial Council Chairperson Cho Cheol-gi, Ministry of Employment and Labor Industrial Safety and Health Bureau Chief Ryu Hyun-chul, Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency President Kim Hyun-jung, officials from 8 cities and counties (Cheonan, Asan, Seosan, Boryeong, Nonsan, Dangjin, Seosan, and Hongseong), and labor-management representatives from 100 business sites—the event proceeded with special lectures, the declaration ceremony, and the signing of practical agreements.

The agreement signed by the province, the 8 cities/counties, and the 100 businesses focuses on: △ raising awareness of life and safety as a top priority and eliminating hazards at industrial sites; and △ establishing an AI-based occupational safety and health management system and cooperating on safety consulting and supplies support for small-scale businesses.

They also pledged to work together to build practical, safe working environments through: △ prevention-centered supervision and guarantee of safety rights; and △ management of hazardous and risk factors within workplaces and expansion of workers' rights to stop work.

In addition, the province decided to strengthen support for industrial accident prevention.

Starting next year, preventive guidance and inspections for small-scale hazardous/risky businesses and construction sites will be expanded through local labor inspectors.

Through the Ministry of Employment and Labor's contest project to eliminate blind spots in regional serious disaster prevention, the province plans to focus on preventing explosions, fires, and fall accidents during livestock shed roof remodeling work.

Safety consulting for small-scale businesses will also be expanded, improving vulnerable working environments through safety measures for severe winter and summer seasons, provision of safety supplies, and the expanded operation of rest areas.

Through the nation's first local government-operated Labor Safety and Health Center, the province will support disaster prevention for small-scale businesses and vulnerable workers.

Furthermore, the province plans to proactively block on-site risk factors by expanding the region's honorary industrial safety supervisors and promoting workers' rights to stop work.

Prior to the agreement signing, Bureau Chief Ryu delivered a special lecture themed "Closing the Risk Gap in Industrial Sites" and "Participatory Workplace Safety Built on Self-Regulation," which represent the government's core policy directions for industrial safety.

At the event, Governor Park stated, "Safety is an uncompromised core value and the starting point of respecting labor," adding, "Chungnam, which holds the sacrifice of the late Kim Yong-gyun, is the region that awakened South Korea to the importance of safe workplaces. The 'Kim Yong-gyun Act,' which prevents the outsourcing of hazards and strengthens primary contractors' responsibilities, was born out of his sacrifice."

He continued, "Safety blind spots that cannot be blocked by systems and regulations alone must be filled by improving on-site culture and awareness." He urged that safety be established as a natural right and culture, while management should recognize safety not as a cost but as the most definitive investment, and workers must strictly follow safety rules on-site.

Finally, Governor Park emphasized, "Every year, around 50 workers in our province fail to return home due to industrial accidents," adding, "Chungnam will concentrate its provincial governance capabilities on protecting the safety and lives of its residents by reducing occupational injury victims and accidental deaths by 50% within four years."

[ⓒ Global Economic Times. 무단전재-재배포 금지]