[Reporter Roishu Jin Ga-young] Industrial accidents refer to accidents that occur to workers working at industrial sites. Under the Labor Standards Act, a worker refers to a person who provides work to an employer for wages in a business or workplace, in terms of its substance rather than the form of a contract.
Generally, when thinking about industrial accidents, it is easy to think of personnel accidents that occur at construction sites or manufacturing plants, but industrial accidents can also occur due to exposure to diseases, even if they are not necessarily due to direct physical factors.
Even after retirement, if a worker proves that the disease was caused by the work he or she performed, he or she can be approved as an industrial accident. In Article 37 of the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Act, any injury, disease, or death that has a causal relationship with work is considered an occupational accident.
The law stipulates occupational accidents, occupational diseases, and commuting accidents as specific types of occupational accidents. Occupational accidents are accidents that occur while workers are performing their work, and include not only accidents that occur while working, but also accidents that occur during company-sponsored events.
Occupational diseases refer to diseases caused by handling or exposure to factors that can have a negative impact on the physical health of workers, such as physical factors, chemicals, dust, pathogens, and tasks that place a burden on the body, during the course of work.
Attorney Jeong Jun of Daeryun Law Firm (Limited) advised, “For workers who have suffered an industrial accident, they cannot work and have no immediate source of income, so it is important to resolve their livelihood issues through sufficient compensation for the industrial accident. Since it is not easy to prove the facts of an accident or work-related disease, it is necessary to collect evidence and review it carefully with a labor lawyer.”
View full article - Occupational accidents of industrial workers must be carefully examined, their types, and whether they are recognized.