KOSHA works with you to make healthier and safer workplace

 Valued workers and employers across the country,  
                                                                                                   and those who are working  in the OSH sector !

The new year 2013 has started with hope. 

I wish the happiness of your family and hope you could realize what you have dreamed of.

The new year always make us joyful with hope and courage.

And this hope and courage are driving force that supports us in the middle of dragging economic downturn and crisis.

This year is expected to witness many changes with the launch of the new administration and the occupational safety and health industry is no exception.

KOSHA would work hard to respond to these changes by predicting the changes in the future environment; providing practical technology and information for businesses; sparing no effort to protect the lives and health of working men and women.

To that end, let me tell you KOSHA’s focus this year.

First, KOSHA would intensify the building of self-regulated OSH system.

Relying only on the rule of law in conducting OSH activities is not enough to meet rapidly changing technology and working environment.

Advanced nations are already achieving outcome by conducting OSH activities led by the employers through self-regulated prevention activities based on the risk assessment.

KOSHA is also committed to strengthening the fundamental of self-regulated OSH management system as its risk assessment fully begins based on the know-how and infrastructure built up over the last 3 years.

Further, KOSHA plans to establish KOSHA18001 that certifies whether the company is equipped with OSH system. In other words, KOSHA would expand the measures to secure safety before it’s too late.

Second, KOSHA would provide comprehensive OSH technology through on-time visit.

Since last year, KOSHA has introduced and conducted the new prevention system under which it delivers on-time technology assistance to start-up businesses or work places experiencing accidents.

Even though the visible outcome has not come yet, I am sure that this on-time technology assistance would contribute to reducing accident rates in both the start-up businesses and work places that have experienced accidents.

This on-time visit service keeps going on this year.

KOSHA would spare no effort to deliver service whenever work places need it, by intensifying the content of the assistance.

Third, KOSHA would expand the areas of preventing accidents.

Recent accidents trend shows that more accidents are reported from out of target area of KOSHA. In that sense, KOSHA plans to enlarge its coverage when deciding its target work places.

As part of the plan, KOSHA would conduct its preventing activities through building up OSH network and providing customized technology training especially in the transportation, storage, communication, forestry, mining, agriculture and fishing industries.

In addition, intensive management and patrol training would be provided for: the mid-sized manufacturing work places with over 50 workers that are witnessing increasing cases of accidents; construction site with fiscal size from KRW500 million to 5 billion; and accidents from work places with frequent forklifts and overhead cranes.

In particular, KOSHA would focus on large scale accidents such as fire, explosion and leakage to prevent them happen again by providing intensive crisis management manual and expanding the range of hazardous materials.

Fourth, expanding infrastructure is KOSHA’s another commitment for the health of workers.

Healthy workers are driving force of company’s growth and enhanced productivity.

In that sense, KOSHA is committed to running more health-care center for workers that provide various kinds of medical services including consultations for checking and maintaining workers’ health.

These centers have to be opened near small-sized work places so that workers there have better access to them, who are usually lack of availability in terms of time and distance unlike those working in the large-sized companies.

The trend of chemical exposure cases reported is changing from acute exposure to highly toxicant, to chronic exposure to less hazardous materials. Every possible accident has to be identified previously to prevent such chronic exposure.

To that end, KOSHA works hard to prevent occupational diseases by building up more laboratories to research hazardous materials and to finally secure the reliability of the test result.

Last but not least, KOSHA is committed to providing practical services to the vulnerable work places.

It is necessary for the small-sized work places with less than 50 workers that has poor infrastructure to join the risk assessment system that begins this year, to help the system settle down firmly.

Especially as KOSHA applies graded premium rate that charges different occupational accidents insurance policy by accident rates, it would deliver trainings for the employers and other who are in charge of the insurance policy within the small-sized work places so that they could easily access the self-regulated OSH management.

In addition, the quality of OSH service would be enhanced through developing and distributing media by types of the business such as manufacturing, construction and service.

Improving awareness is another goal of KOSHA this year. To that end, KOSHA would intensify safety culture business by introducing new types of campaigns that focus on providing continued services based on the accident statistics by regions and by using on-line tools and SNS.

Various types of accidents occurred last year which shows us the importance of crisis management.

In particular, we need to improve our awareness based on the cooperation of labor and management to prevent accidents in the work place.

Employers have to keep in mind that they should put their top priority on OSH in setting the management goals while workers should remember that their OSH activities would ultimately lead to the prosperity of individuals, companies and the whole community.

This mutual cooperation would help us make a safe and healthy work place through which I hope all of you could overcome the economic difficulties and live a happy life.

KOSHA would spare no effort to lay a firm ground for the whole nation to appreciate the safety and keep it always in mind.

Happy new year and wish the best success and health for your family. Thank you.