It has been found that the number of fatal accidents has significantly decreased in small business sites participating in the risk assessment process, where labor and management work together to identify and improve factors causing industrial accidents.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 22nd that the number of accident fatalities at 30,837 business sites that received risk assessment consulting support in 2023 decreased by 67% compared to prior to the consulting. At these business sites, there were 168 accident fatalities in 2022, but the number dropped to 56 last year.
Risk assessment is a process in which business sites identify and improve their own risk factors. Business operators who regularly conduct risk assessments each year can receive a certificate after passing the examination by the Occupational Safety and Health Agency, and if selected as an excellent business site, they are granted benefits such as a reduction in industrial accident insurance premiums. The government has been carrying out initiatives to support the expenses for small business sites that received related consulting.
Among the types of risk assessment support projects, business sites (16,062) that participated in consulting for establishing safety and health management systems saw the number of accident fatalities decrease from 146 to 40, a reduction of 73% (106 people). Notably, the construction industry experienced an 84% reduction in fatalities.
However, the Ministry of Employment and Labor noted that this analysis merely compared the number of accident fatalities at business sites that received consulting over a two-year period, and has limitations as it does not take into account the impacts of variables such as economic fluctuations and changes in business scale.