Is POSCO the first target of the Severe Disaster Act? Candidate of Minister of Environment “Investigation of Hazardous Substances”

Input 2021.01.21 14:02 | Revision 2021.01.21 15:57

After Candidate Han Jeong-ae, Minister of Environment, took office POSCO (005490)It has announced that it will conduct an investigation into the problem of leakage of hazardous substances in the country. In the industry, it is predicted that POSCO may become the first target of the’Severe Accidents Penalty Act’ (Severe Accidents Act), which punishes managers in case of accidents at industrial sites.

According to the National Assembly and the business community on the 21st, at the personnel hearing of a candidate held at the National Assembly Environment and Labor Committee the previous day, the problem of the leakage of hazardous substances from POSCO was raised on the cutting board. Democratic Party lawmaker Roh Woong-rae urged a candidate to investigate POSCO’s hazardous substances.

Rep. Roh introduced the results of a survey conducted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor to comply with the safety and health measures for POSCO Pohang Steel, and said, “A whopping 331 violations of the Occupational Safety and Health Act were found, and 220 cases of serious violations were found. Then, based on the data from the National Institute of Environmental Sciences, “Pohang City has the highest cancer mortality rate of 1.37 times compared to the whole country, and residents of Pohang Industrial Complex air pollution exposure areas are 1.72 times higher than the national average.”

One candidate replied, “I will investigate the deterioration of the health of local residents,” and “If there is an abnormality that exceeds the number to a certain extent compared to other regions, I think there is a causative agent.” One candidate said he would investigate POSCO in collaboration with the Ministry of Labor after taking office. The progress report of a candidate’s personnel hearing was handled by agreement on the day of the hearing.

Rep. Roh has argued that POSCO should be the first subject of the Severe Disaster Act. The Severe Accident Act aims to punish employers or managers who fail to take safety measures in case of death due to industrial accidents or accidents with imprisonment for more than one year or fines of not more than 1 billion won. It also contained a content that a corporation or institution faced a fine of not more than 5 billion won, and that the business owner or corporation that caused a serious disaster should pay punitive damages up to five times.

The Severe Accident Act is’enforced one year after the date of promulgation’, so accidents in the meantime are not applicable. However, the related industry is tense as the atmosphere is strictly asking for responsibility for accidents at the industrial site.

It is pointed out that in the business world, asserting that a law that has not yet been enforced should be applied to a specific company is an act that greatly reduces business activities. A business official said, “Posco has already received or is being investigated by local labor offices in relation to the industrial accident problem.”