Under Article 67 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and Article 55 of its Enforcement Decree, the project owner of any construction project with a total contract value of KRW 5 billion or more must prepare and maintain basic, design and construction Safety and Health Ledgers. The threshold is the total contract value, whether the project is building or civil works.

The required content and forms are set by Article 86 of the Enforcement Rule and MOEL Notice No. 2024-35 on the Preparation of Safety and Health Ledgers for Construction Works. Failure to prepare or maintain the ledgers carries an administrative fine of up to KRW 10 million under Article 175 of the Act.

Basis: Occupational Safety and Health Act Art. 67; Enforcement Decree Art. 55; Enforcement Rule Art. 86; MOEL Notice No. 2024-35; Art. 175 (administrative fines)

Article 67(1) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act defines three ledgers, one for each procurement stage. The basic ledger is prepared by the project owner at the planning stage and sets out the project's principal hazards, risk controls and the occupational safety and health management budget. The design ledger is prepared by the designer, building on the basic ledger, to record the hazards and controls arising from the design, and is verified by the project owner. The construction ledger is prepared by the contractor, building on the design ledger, and the project owner verifies its implementation.

The project owner's duty does not end with preparation. Each ledger must pass an adequacy review by a qualified expert, and during construction the owner must verify implementation of the construction ledger at regular intervals (every three months) and keep a record. Most administrative fines are imposed at these two points.

Basis: Occupational Safety and Health Act Art. 67(1) and (2); Enforcement Rule Art. 86; MOEL Notice No. 2024-35

No. They are separate documents with different governing statutes and different authorities. The Hazard Prevention Plan, under Article 42 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, applies to buildings 31 m or higher above ground, buildings with a floor area of 30,000 m² or more, cultural, assembly, retail, transport and religious facilities of 5,000 m² or more, general hospitals, tourist accommodation, underground shopping arcades and cold-storage warehouses, bridges with a maximum span of 50 m or more, tunnels, large dams such as multipurpose dams, and excavation 10 m or deeper (Enforcement Decree Art. 42(3)). It is submitted to the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA) for review before commencement.

The Safety Management Plan, under Article 62 of the Construction Technology Promotion Act and Article 98 of its Enforcement Decree, applies to construction of Class 1 and 2 facilities, excavation 10 m or deeper, works using explosives, buildings of 10 to 15 storeys, works using tower cranes, pile drivers or drilling rigs 10 m or higher, and temporary structures such as scaffolding 31 m or higher and formwork or shoring 5 m or higher. It is approved by the contracting authority or the permitting authority, with technical review by the Korea Authority of Land and Infrastructure Safety (KALIS). Where a project falls under both Acts, the two plans may be consolidated into a single submission under the joint MOLIT and MOEL Guideline on Consolidated Preparation of Hazard Prevention Plans and Safety Management Plans.

Basis: Occupational Safety and Health Act Art. 42; Enforcement Decree Art. 42(3) / Construction Technology Promotion Act Art. 62; Enforcement Decree Arts. 98 and 99 / Consolidated Preparation Guideline

Under Article 68 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and Article 56 of its Enforcement Decree, a project owner who has awarded two or more construction contracts on the same site to different contractors must appoint a Safety and Health Coordinator where the combined contract value is KRW 5 billion or more.

The key concept is separate contracting. Several subcontractors working concurrently under a single principal contractor do not trigger the duty. It applies only to overlapping works, where contractors engaged separately by the project owner are working on the same site at the same time. The coordinator identifies the hazards created by the overlap, coordinates the timing, content and safety measures of the works, and manages coordination meetings and records (Enforcement Decree Art. 57). Qualified persons include certified industrial safety consultants, Professional Engineers in construction safety and safety managers with the prescribed experience (Enforcement Decree Art. 56). Failure to appoint carries an administrative fine of up to KRW 5 million under Article 175 of the Act.

Basis: Occupational Safety and Health Act Art. 68; Enforcement Decree Arts. 56 and 57; Art. 175 (administrative fines)

Since 27 January 2024 the Act applies to every workplace with five or more regular employees. Article 4 places a duty on employers and responsible executives to secure safety and health, and Article 4 of the Enforcement Decree sets out what that duty involves: safety and health objectives and a management policy; procedures to identify and remedy hazards, reviewed at least every six months; a dedicated safety and health budget and its execution; authority, budget and performance evaluation for safety and health managers; deployment of safety and health officers; consultation with workers at least every six months; an emergency response manual for serious accidents; and safety and health criteria for contracting, service and outsourcing arrangements.

Preparation begins with a gap assessment of the current system against these nine items. Documentation alone is not enough; compliance is recognised only where there is a record of actual inspection and improvement. Based on the assessment, we build the missing procedures, documents and review framework with you.

Basis: Serious Accidents Punishment Act Arts. 4 and 5; Enforcement Decree Arts. 4 and 5

Under Article 36 of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, employers must identify hazards, determine the level of risk and implement controls. The MOEL Guideline on Workplace Risk Assessment requires an initial assessment when the workplace is established, a periodic assessment every year thereafter, and an ad-hoc assessment whenever processes, equipment or work methods change or an accident occurs. Since the 2023 revision, a continuous assessment cycle run on a monthly, weekly and daily basis is also recognised.

Results must be communicated to workers with training. On construction sites, breaking the assessment down into task-level Job Safety Analysis (JSA) is the most effective way to manage it. Risk assessment records are also the primary evidence of the hazard identification and improvement duty under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act.

Basis: Occupational Safety and Health Act Art. 36; MOEL Guideline on Workplace Risk Assessment

They depend on the document type and the project scale. Safety and Health Ledger fees are based on total contract value, number of work types, the stage from which we are engaged (basic, design or construction) and the number of implementation reviews. Hazard Prevention Plan and Safety Management Plan fees are based on the work types in scope and the extent of review-authority support. Coordinator fees are based on the construction period and the coordination meeting cycle.

As a rule, the cost of preparing Safety and Health Ledgers is borne by the project owner and cannot be charged to the contractor's occupational safety and health management budget. Send us the contract value, work type, schedule, site location and the documents you need, and we will return an itemised quotation and timeline promptly.

ZEROONE Safety Technology serves clients anywhere in the Republic of Korea and, where a client needs us, anywhere in the world. Our office is in Paju, Gyeonggi Province.