S.Korea's deaths from fatal industrial accidents fall in 2022
Xinhua
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SEOUL, Jan. 19 (Xinhua) -- The number of worker deaths in South Korea from fatal industrial accidents fell last year, labor ministry data showed Thursday.

A total of 644 workers died in 611 cases of serious industrial accidents in 2022, down 5.7 percent from 683 deaths in 665 industrial accidents in the previous year, according to the Ministry of Employment and Labor.

The number of on-duty deaths from serious industrial accidents at workplaces with less than 50 regular employees decreased to 388 in 381 cases in 2022 from 435 in 431 cases in 2021.

However, the number of deaths at workplaces hiring over 50 employees increased to 256 in 230 cases in 2022 from 248 in 234 cases in the previous year.

The workplaces with over 50 employees are subject to the Serious Accidents Punishment Act which was enforced in January 2022 to punish owners or chief executives of businesses failing to take safety measures to prevent fatal industrial accidents.

Under the act, those who fail to fulfill their safety duties would be punishable by at least one year in prison or up to 1 billion won (about 810,000 U.S. dollars) in fines.

The act was applied to 229 industrial accidents in 2022, and the labor ministry referred 34 of them to the prosecutors' office for indictment, indicating that the strict enforcement of the law would be necessary to reduce worker deaths at workplaces with over 50 employees.