2024-04-15 07:51:23
Ministry of Public Administration and Security announced last month’s legislative notice on amendments to the Enforcement Decree of the Disaster and Safety Act
Massive damage caused by crowd accidents and household chemical products
28 types added, including paralysis of national core infrastructure due to union dispute
In the future, it is expected that not only the Itaewon disaster, but also the humidifier disinfectant disaster and the paralysis of the nation’s core infrastructure due to labor union strikes will be defined as social disasters in the law and a government-wide response will be implemented.
The Ministry of the Interior and Safety (Ministry of Public Administration and Security) announced on the 14th that it had announced on the 15th of last month a partial amendment to the enforcement ordinance of the ‘Basic Act on Disaster and Safety Management (Disaster and Safety Act)’ containing the above-mentioned contents.
This amendment was prepared in response to criticism that the types of social disasters stipulated in the Enforcement Decree of the Disaster and Safety Act were not specific after the Itaewon disaster occurred in October 2022.
It was also taken into consideration that the revised Disaster and Safety Act, which passed the National Assembly in December last year and will take effect on July 17, includes ‘multiple crowding accidents’ and ‘falls and collisions of artificial space objects’ as social disasters.
The amendment included 28 types of social disasters in a new asterisk.
One example is the ‘large-scale damage caused by mass crowd accidents caused by congestion of roads, squares, parks, and multi-use facilities where the general public freely gathers or passes’, such as the Itaewon disaster.
‘Large-scale damage resulting from accidents related to household chemical products and biocides subject to safety management in accordance with the Act on Safety Management of Household Chemical Products and Biocides’ was also newly established.
A relevant example here is the humidifier disinfectant disaster, for which the government decided to provide relief to 5,703 people as of the 7th of last month.
Damage caused by paralysis of the country’s core infrastructure was also defined as a social disaster, including ‘paralysis caused by industrial action or equivalent actions under the Trade Union and Labor Relations Adjustment Act’.
However, some are concerned that labeling even legal disputes as social disasters could limit workers’ right to collective action guaranteed by the Constitution.
It is also pointed out that the current Disaster and Safety Act Enforcement Decree does not consider the temporary suspension of national core infrastructure due to labor union industrial action to be subject to a declaration of a state of disaster, but applies an exception.
However, the Ministry of Public Administration and Security explained, “Even now, paralysis of the nation’s core infrastructure, such as health care accidents and land cargo transportation accidents due to industrial action, are defined as types of social disasters,” and “There is no correlation between the types of social disasters and the declaration of a state of disaster.” did.
The rest are generally close to specification of previously defined types of social disasters.
For example, the expression ‘accidents occurring at schools and school facilities’ was changed to ‘large-scale damage requiring national or local government response due to fire, collapse, explosion, or crowding accident at educational facilities.’ It is like this.
If it is defined as a social disaster, it will be subject to the Disaster and Safety Act and, in the event of an occurrence, a government-wide response can be carried out through the ‘Central Disaster and Safety Countermeasures Headquarters’ and ‘Central Accident Control Headquarters’.
Since the relevant ministries for each type of disaster are designated as the ‘disaster management agency’, the response control tower becomes clear and a ‘crisis management manual’ is prepared in advance, making rapid response possible.
The Ministry of Public Administration and Security will listen to opinions on the amendment until the 24th of next month, which is the legislative notice period. Once the revision process is completed, the social disaster section is scheduled to go into effect on July 17th.
[세종=뉴시스]
2024-04-15 07:51:23