The detailed criteria for the system—which we reported last month would involve administrative fines for risk assessments starting next January—have been finalized. On the 4th, the Ministry of Employment and Labor issued a revised notice titled “Guidelines on Workplace Risk Assessments.”
Looking at the finalized content, the key point to note is not the amount of the administrative fines. It is the phrase “before work begins.” Risk assessments have shifted from being a purely documentary obligation to a prerequisite task on the work schedule.
In this news report, we will summarize the changes made by the revised notice regarding the timing of assessments, the finalized penalty tiers, explanations regarding the impact on project schedules, and the support measures announced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor.
The amended notice revises the implementation methods and timelines to align with the previously amended Occupational Safety and Health Act and its subordinate regulations. The changes affect three specific timelines.
Initial Assessment: “To be initiated within one month of business establishment” → “To be conducted before the start of initial work”
Interim Assessment: Previously, the “prior to work” requirement applied only when resuming work after an industrial accident; now, it applies to all cases subject to interim assessment, such as the introduction or modification of work methods or procedures
Periodic Assessment: “Review every year” → “Conduct at least once a year”
Among these, ad hoc evaluations have the most significant practical impact on construction sites. In the construction industry, construction methods and equipment change frequently, and there is a high turnover of day laborers; evaluations must be completed before work begins for each of these changes. The structure now requires an evaluation to be completed as a prerequisite at each point where work transitions between different types of construction.
New provisions regarding administrative fines have also been established. Failure to conduct a risk assessment results in fines of 5 million won for the first violation, 7 million won for the second, and 10 million won for the third. In addition, fines are imposed for failure to involve workers, failure to share the schedule or results of the assessment, and violations of the obligation to record and preserve assessment results. According to standards reported last month, failure to ensure participation or sharing carried a maximum fine of 5 million won, while failure to record or preserve records carried a maximum fine of 3 million won.
For the construction industry, the effective dates are January 1 of next year for sites with a construction cost of 5 billion won or more, and January 1, 2028, for sites with a construction cost of less than 5 billion won.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor explained that this reform is unlikely to lead to widespread delays in construction schedules. This is because construction sites have already been conducting risk assessments, and large-scale construction sites, in particular, have been diligently following relevant procedures due to the influence of laws such as the Act on the Punishment of Serious Accidents.
However, this explanation comes with a caveat: sites that have conducted risk assessments merely as a formality need to review their project management methods. This is because if hazards are identified immediately before work begins and additional measures—such as reinforcing work platforms or adjusting equipment routes—are required, personnel and equipment may have to stand by, or the schedule for subsequent tasks may be delayed.
Ultimately, the extent of the impact on the construction schedule is determined not by the system but by the site itself. For sites that have actually been conducting assessments, this amounts to a mere procedural adjustment; however, for sites that have merely gone through the motions on paper, it will require redrawing the construction schedule.
The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced plans to provide occupational safety and health consulting services, primarily targeting small-scale workplaces, and to develop support measures for assessments using mobile devices. A workplace guide detailing specific implementation methods will also be distributed within the year.
This is where Digital Presso sees a key point. It is no coincidence that the regulatory authority has singled out mobile technology as a support tool. The condition of “conducting the assessment before work begins” means the assessment must be completed right where the work starts—not at an office desk—and this is a requirement that is difficult to meet with paper and office PCs in the first place.
Digitalpresso’s B2B comprehensive construction platform, RenameDP, was designed to meet this requirement. Since the app provides site-specific risk assessments and TBM (pre-work safety briefing) documents and even handles participants’ electronic signatures on the spot, pre-work implementation, worker participation, and result sharing are consolidated into a single procedure and recorded as is. When the type of work changes or personnel are replaced, previous assessments can be retrieved and updated, and the change history is stored alongside them.
Three of the four newly established administrative penalty categories ask whether “there is a record that the action was performed.” These three can be resolved at the lowest cost when handled at the very moment the assessment is conducted.
Risk assessments were institutionalized in 2013. For the past 13 years, the most common criticism has been that “some workplaces either fail to conduct assessments or carry them out merely as a formality,” and this amendment appears to be an attempt to prevent such formalism by focusing on timing rather than monetary penalties. If it is strictly mandated that the assessment be completed before work begins, the practice of cramming paperwork together later will no longer be viable.
Ryu Hyun-cheol, Director General of the Occupational Safety and Health Bureau at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, stated that this reform will serve as an opportunity for risk assessments to become a core safety management tool in all workplaces, and called for efforts to ensure that “effective, rather than merely formal, risk assessments” take root on-site.
There are less than two months remaining until January 1 of next year. What needs to be prepared is not the paperwork forms, but a workflow that ensures the assessment is completed before work begins.
The Korea Economic Daily, “Frequent Risk Assessments at Construction Sites: Mandatory Before Work Begins,” 2026 — https://www.dnews.co.kr/uhtml/view.jsp?idxno=202611042149477910697
Ministry of Employment and Labor, “Amended Notice on Guidelines for Workplace Risk Assessments,” November 4, 2026 (cited in the article)
The Korea Economic Daily, “Risk Assessment Fines Imminent… Small and Medium-Sized Construction Firms Face an Urgent Crisis,” 2026 — https://www.dnews.co.kr/uhtml/view.jsp?idxno=202610141120441340522
This content was produced by Digital Presso Co., Ltd. and references the above material. Please refer to the original text for further details.
