Companies With Multiple Worker Deaths to Be Levied 5% Profit Surcharge
- South Korea has revised its Occupational Safety and Health Act to allow the government impose a surcharge of up to 5% of a company’s average operating profit over three years if three or more workers die within a year in industrial accidents caused by the employer’s safety violations.
- If there is no operating profit, it is hard to calculate, or 5% of it is under 3 billion won, a surcharge of up to 3 billion won can be imposed. The provisions take effect April 28, 2027.
- The amount will be set based on company size, the number of deaths and accident prevention efforts. Critics say the surcharge, on top of criminal penalties under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, amounts to overlapping sanctions.
- Workplaces where fatal incidents recur can lose their registrations. A business becomes subject to suspension if two or more people die at once because of safety violations, and the labor minister can request cancellation of the registration if a workplace is subject to suspension twice within three years and then again.
OSHA Closes Stadium Electrician Death Case, Issues No Citations
- The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has closed its case into the death of electrician Corey Lee Sooter at Memorial Stadium in Columbia, Mo., and issued no citations, OSHA spokesperson Chauntra Rideaux said.
- Sooter, 44, was a foreman for BK2 Electrical & Design and died in June while working on stadium renovations, according to his obituary.
- A Columbia Fire Department report describes the incident as a reported electrocution involving energized wires at the stadium.
Safety Agency Blames Poor Hazard Management Worker’s Fatal Fall
- Quebec’s workplace safety agency, the CNESST, said inadequate hazard management led to the Nov 2025 death of a construction worker in Montreal’s Sud-Ouest borough. The worker, employed by Installation MB, fell 8.7 meters onto a concrete floor after stepping on a 48-by-48-centimeter roof opening hidden under snow and covered only by a rigid polyurethane insulation panel, which gave way. He was moving a sheet of plywood across the roof of a boiler room with another worker.
- Inspectors found no guardrails around the roof, no personal fall protection system in use and two unsecured openings hidden beneath the snow. The openings had originally been covered with wood and a waterproofing system, but workers from another company removed them the month before the accident, leaving the insulation exposed.
- Two weeks before the accident, another Installation MB crew noticed the raised areas, assumed they were remnants of roof repairs and tested them by striking the panel with a stick and pressing with a foot. Although they found the setup unusual, they took no further steps to determine what it was and concluded it posed no danger.
- The CNESST said project manager Pomerleau Inc. and subcontractors failed to establish verification procedures to keep the worksite safe throughout construction. An inspection from inside the building could have revealed two square shapes in the slab and shown they were openings. The report cited shortcomings in identifying and communicating hazards, as well as in supervision.