Starting August 1 of next month, construction project owners whose annual construction project value exceeds 120 billion won must publicly disclose their annual occupational safety and health status. Since the criterion is based on the annual scale of construction projects rather than revenue, this effectively covers most mid-sized and larger general construction companies. Not only will the fatality statistics for workers employed by prime contractors be disclosed annually, but those for workers at subcontractors (related contractors) will also be made public.
In this article, we will summarize the key provisions of the amended enforcement decree, the strengthened regulations, the industry’s concerns, and the underlying structural challenges.
What’s Happening: Mandatory Disclosure of Fatal Accidents for Construction Firms with Annual Construction Volume of 120 Billion Won or More
Other Strengthened Regulations: Fines for Risk Assessments and Occupational Safety and Health Improvement Plans
Industry Concerns: Disclosure Burden and Responsibility for Managing Partner Companies
Underlying Structural Challenges: A System for Continuous Safety Verification
Key Points of the Enforcement Decree
According to the Ministry of Employment and Labor on the 21st, the government reviewed and approved the amendment to the “Enforcement Decree of the Occupational Safety and Health Act” at a Cabinet meeting held that day. The amendments will take effect on August 1. Construction business owners with an annual construction project value exceeding 120 billion won and employers with 500 or more regular employees will be required to disclose their annual occupational safety and health status.
The key point is that the criterion is annual construction project value, not revenue. Since this threshold is much broader than a revenue-based standard, industry sources indicate that most major general construction companies will fall under this requirement.
Scope of Disclosure
Notably, the disclosure items now include statistics on fatal accidents involving workers employed by subcontractors and fatal accidents in public construction projects. This means that not only the industrial accident statistics for workers employed by the prime contractor but also those for subcontractor workers will be disclosed annually. This amendment is a follow-up measure to the “Comprehensive Labor Safety Plan” announced last September and is intended to specify the details delegated by the Occupational Safety and Health Act, which was revised this past February.
New Administrative Fines for Risk Assessments
Violations of the obligation to conduct risk assessments will result in administrative fines of 5 million won for the first offense, 7 million won for the second, and 10 million won for the third. Tiered fines have also been introduced for violations of the obligations regarding worker participation, sharing of results, and record retention. These will apply to workplaces with 50 or more employees starting next year, and to those with fewer than 50 employees starting in 2028.
Expansion of Improvement Plan Orders and Honorary Inspectors
The government has also expanded the scope of workplaces subject to safety and health improvement plan orders. Workplaces where industrial accidents—such as fires, explosions, or collapses—have occurred at least twice within the past year due to failure to implement safety and health measures have been newly included. This measure targets sites where serious accidents occur repeatedly. The appointment of honorary industrial safety inspectors has also been made mandatory, and the ability for worker representatives to make recommendations—previously limited to workplaces required to form an Industrial Safety and Health Committee—has been expanded to all workplaces.
Within and outside the construction industry, there is speculation that—given the multi-layered subcontracting structure typical of construction sites—disclosing fatal accidents involving related contractors could affect construction capability evaluations or client reviews. A safety and health executive at a major construction firm pointed out that if accidents involving related contractors are also required to be disclosed, “there is a high likelihood that this will escalate into a controversy over responsibility for managing subcontractors.”
In addition to the disclosure burden, some argue that the public exposure of accident statistics could also result in reputational damage. The core issue is that the scope of liability now includes workplace accidents at subcontracted sites—which the prime contractor finds difficult to control directly.
Whether through public disclosure or administrative fines, what this amendment universally requires is the ability to continuously document that occupational safety and health activities have been “carried out.” In particular, the key challenge is how to document risk assessments and safety measures at sites operated by affiliated contractors—which the prime contractor finds difficult to control directly.
At many sites, risk assessments and safety inspections are still managed in a fragmented manner—using checklists, photos, verbal instructions, and messages shared via instant messaging apps. However, when an accident occurs or a reporting deadline approaches, what is truly needed is not merely a statement that “it was managed,” but data that can prove who identified the hazard, when, what measures were ordered, and when the issue was actually resolved.
This is where Digital Presso comes in
Ultimately, what both occupational safety and health reporting and risk assessment fines require is “thoroughly documenting all safety activities carried out on-site without omission.” This is precisely the problem Digitalpresso is addressing with its construction site platform, RenameDP.
By utilizing RenameDP, sites can conduct customized risk assessments and TBMs (pre-work safety briefings) with electronic signatures to document worker participation. Additionally, since time and location data are automatically linked to photos, there’s no need to scramble to gather evidence afterward regarding “when and where safety measures were implemented.” By accumulating before-and-after photos alongside AI-generated work logs, even the activities of subcontractors—which the prime contractor finds difficult to control directly—are transformed into verifiable safety management data required for public disclosure and compliance with the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.
In a climate where the burden of providing evidence for public disclosure and administrative fines is increasing, if you are considering a system to record and document on-site safety activities in real time, please take a look at this solution.
The disclosure of occupational safety and health status represents a shift that elevates accidents at construction sites from “incidents beyond management control” to “measured and publicly disclosed indicators.” Regardless of the burden posed by increased regulations, the trend of safety becoming an official criterion in corporate evaluations is likely to continue for the foreseeable future. In an environment where documented and verifiable safety directly translates into competitiveness, the challenge for construction companies is how to transform on-site data into a valuable asset.
The Korea Economic Daily, “Construction Companies with Annual Project Value of 120 Billion Won or More to Disclose Fatal Accidents Annually Starting Next Month,” 2026 — https://www.dnews.co.kr/uhtml/view.jsp?idxno=202607211235224370868
Ministry of Employment and Labor, “Cabinet Deliberates and Approves Amendment to the Enforcement Decree of the Occupational Safety and Health Act” (cited in the article), 2026
This content was produced by Digital Presso Co., Ltd. and references the above materials. Please refer to the original text for further details.
