President Lee Jae Myung on Tuesday reiterated the need for strong measures to prevent industrial accidents by imposing tough penalties on workplaces with repeated fatalities and holding main contractors accountable.
Speaking at a Cabinet meeting, Lee criticized large construction companies for outsourcing dangerous tasks to subcontractors to save costs, and urged measures to hold main contractors accountable for serious industrial accidents.
"Taking someone's life to save costs is a form of murder by willful negligence or social killing," Lee said.
To fundamentally reduce industrial accidents, Lee proposed strong sanctions, such as permanently revoking bidding qualifications, imposing fines and offering exceptional rewards for reporting workplaces with inadequate safety management, presidential spokesperson Kang Yu-jung told reporters.
He also directed the government to establish a special committee to monitor industrial accidents and develop measures to improve workplace safety.
The remarks underline Lee's strong focus on labor issues, apparently shaped by his own experience as a young factory worker.
The 61-year-old suffered an industrial accident in which his fingers were caught in a power belt and, at age 13, sustained a permanent arm injury when his wrist was crushed by a press machine. (Yonhap)
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