⛑️ Supervisor course for the serious accidents era
“Supervisor” is a role named explicitly in the Occupational Safety and Health Act. Anyone who directly directs and oversees production-related work and the employees under it is a supervisor regardless of job title, and the law sets 16 hours of periodic training a year, 8 hours upon hiring, and 2 hours upon a change in job duties. Yet on site, we still often hear, “We didn’t know our foreman was a supervisor.”
The Serious Accidents Punishment Act has raised the stakes of this role. Article 4, Item 5 of the Enforcement Decree requires the responsible executive to give supervisors the authority and budget to do their jobs, set criteria for evaluating their performance, and assess and manage it at least once every half year. If supervisors do not know what they are supposed to do, that is no longer a problem on the shop floor. It becomes a gap in the executive’s management system.
Why this training
- It is statutory training, and fines apply per personFines for failing to provide supervisor periodic training are KRW 500,000 (≈ US$375) for a first offense, KRW 2.5 million (≈ US$1,870) for a second, and KRW 5 million (≈ US$3,740) for a third. That is far heavier than for employee periodic training, and it is assessed per supervisor.
- At least half of the 16 annual hours must be in personRemote training cannot cover all of it. Two 4-hour on-site sessions or one 8-hour session safely clears the in-person requirement.
- Directly linked to the management officer’s dutiesSupervisor training completion status is both a semiannual inspection item under Article 5 of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act Enforcement Decree and an evaluation and management item under Article 4, Item 5. One training session becomes a record under both laws.
- Supervisors must take part in risk assessmentsThe 2023 amendment added participation in hazard identification and corrective action under the risk assessment to supervisors’ statutory duties. A risk assessment prepared by the safety manager alone does not meet this requirement.
Curriculum
This is the module structure for the 4-hour (240-minute) half-day format. The 8-hour full-day format adds 240 minutes of process-specific practice and group discussion to the same seven modules.
What you take away
The training ends in two hours, but the semiannual inspections go on. That is why we provide the templates too.
- Supervisor statutory duties checklist — seven duties × frequency × documentation
- Draft risk assessment for your own process (prepared during training)
- Pre-work safety meeting (TBM) record template
- Training log and attendee sign-in templates — as proof of completed statutory training
Common points of confusion
Who should be designated as a supervisor? — A person in a position that directly directs and oversees production-related work and the employees under it. This is not a role that requires a separate appointment procedure or qualification; it is determined by the actual chain of direction and oversight, so team leaders, foremen, group leaders, and site managers generally qualify. In construction, supervisors are designated separately for each site.
Is this different from appointing a safety manager? — Yes. A safety manager is a separate role with qualification requirements and must be appointed above a certain company size, whereas anyone who directs and oversees work is a supervisor regardless of company size. Training hours for the two roles are also counted separately.
Can all 16 hours be completed online? — No. At least half of the annual periodic training hours for supervisors must be delivered in a non-remote format (in-person, on-site, or real-time non-face-to-face, as defined by the notice). Completing all 16 hours through internet-based remote training only may be treated as non-completion.
Shift work makes it hard to gather everyone at once — We deliver the same content in multiple sessions. For a two-shift, three-crew rotation, for example, we run the same course three times, and the quote is multiplied by the number of sessions. Splitting into sessions also lets us bring in different site cases for each crew, so the content actually improves.
Construction and manufacturing — what changes by industry
Tell us your industry and we will tailor the curriculum to the cases below.
🏗️ Construction — what’s different
Of the 605 workplace fatalities subject to accident investigation in 2025, 286 (47%) were in construction, up 10 from the previous year. The first ruling under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act also involved a construction site.
| Scope of application | For projects of KRW 5 billion (≈ US$3,740,800) or more, the Act has applied since 27 Jan 2022; for projects under KRW 5 (≈ US$1) billion, since 27 Jan 2024. It now applies to any workplace with 5 or more regular employees, regardless of project value. |
|---|---|
| Dedicated unit | Construction companies ranked in the top 200 by construction capacity must have a dedicated organization that oversees safety and health. |
| The weakest link | These are the standards for contracting, outsourced services, and delegation. You must set standards and procedures for assessing a contractor’s ability to prevent industrial accidents, along with standards for safety and health costs and construction schedules, and check them at least twice a year. A record showing that contractors were chosen on lowest price alone will count as evidence against you. |
| Supervisors | Designate one per site. Naming a single person at headquarters does not meet the requirement. |
| Accident types | Falls, collapses, and collisions are the main types, and in 2025 these types increased from the previous year. |
In May 2022, a subcontractor’s worker fell and died at a nursing-hospital extension site in Goyang. The court found that the required measures under the Occupational Safety and Health Standards Rules, such as fall-protection harness anchor points and a written work plan, had not been taken, and that the principal contractor had not properly met its duty to build and operate a safety and health management system.
The prime contractor’s CEO received a 1-year-6-month prison sentence suspended for 3 years, the company a KRW 30 million (≈ US$22,400) fine, and the site manager a KRW 5 million (≈ US$3,740) fine. Neither the prosecution nor the defendants appealed, so the ruling became final.
The apology and condolence payment to the bereaved family, and the fact that the family did not seek punishment, were reflected in the sentence. It also means that without those circumstances, a prison sentence was possible.
- At a site the principal contractor effectively controls, operates, or manages, an accident involving a subcontractor’s worker is also the responsibility of the principal contractor’s executive.
- Simply having a site manager and a safety manager is not considered a functioning system. What matters is whether they were actually given authority and budget.
- Missing individual measures required by regulation, such as work plans and safety harness anchor equipment, are used as evidence of an inadequate system.
🏭 Manufacturing — what’s different
In 2025, manufacturing accident deaths fell by 17 to 158 (150 cases). They are declining, but still account for a quarter of all deaths, and the first prison sentence and the first ruling finalized by the Supreme Court under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act both came from manufacturing sites.
| Scope of application | The Act applies to workplaces with 5 or more regular employees. The grace period for workplaces with fewer than 50 employees ended on 26 Jan 2024. |
|---|---|
| Dedicated unit | Companies with 500 or more regular employees must have a dedicated organization overseeing safety and health. |
| The weakest link | These are non-routine tasks such as equipment repair, cleaning and maintenance. A risk assessment that covers only routine work misses the tasks where accidents actually happen. |
| Occupational diseases | If three or more workers develop occupational illnesses such as acute poisoning from the same hazard within one year, it counts as a serious industrial accident even with no deaths. Workplaces that handle chemicals should check this provision separately. |
| Accident types | Caught-in and struck-by accidents are the main types. Both declined from the previous year in 2025. |
In March 2022, at Korea Steel in Haman, South Gyeongsang, a subcontractor’s worker died when a heat-dissipation plate weighing about 1.2 tons fell during equipment repair work. The court of first instance sentenced the CEO to one year in prison and took him into custody in the courtroom.
CEO sentenced to 1 year in prison (final), corporate fine of KRW 100 million (≈ US$74,800). This is the first prison sentence since the Act took effect, and the first one upheld by the Supreme Court.
The main reason given for the prison sentence was a record of repeated punishment for violating the Occupational Safety and Health Act. The Supreme Court held that the offense of causing death under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, the Occupational Safety and Health Act offense arising from the worker’s death, and professional negligence resulting in death are in a relationship of ideal concurrence.
- A past record of Occupational Safety and Health Act violations weighs heavily at sentencing. Organizing your corrective-order and fine history is where preparation starts.
- First check whether non-routine work such as equipment repair and maintenance, and work done by contractors, is included in your risk assessment.
- Even with no deaths, three workers with occupational illnesses such as acute poisoning within one year make it a serious industrial accident.
When Nanum Consulting delivers it
Because this training fulfills statutory hours, we start with documentation. We provide a training log and attendee sign-in templates, and keep records that show the subject, hours, and instructor qualifications.
We assign instructors who meet the instructor qualifications set by the Safety and Health Training Regulation. External instructors with these qualifications also count as in-house training.
Tell us your industry (construction or manufacturing) and main processes, and we will rework the “Accident Types and Countermeasures by Industry” module around cases from your industry. We use recent fatal accident types and court rulings.
Put the CEO course first on the same day to finish 2 hours for executives plus 4 hours for supervisors in a single day. Many clients also bundle statutory mandatory training, such as employee periodic training and sexual harassment prevention, into the same day.
On-Site Training · Get a Quote
Tell us the training hours, headcount, and industry, and we will send a schedule proposal and quote within 24 hours.
Published rates: KRW 1.2 million (≈ US$900) for lectures of 2 hours or less · KRW 600,000 (≈ US$450) per hour for 3–4-hour half-day sessions · KRW 500,000 (≈ US$375) per hour for 6–8-hour full-day sessions. VAT, materials, and travel are extra. If sessions are split by shift or site, the price is multiplied by the number of sessions.
Supervisor Course — FAQ
How many hours of training do supervisors need?
What is the fine for not providing supervisor training?
Can supervisor training be taken online?
Who counts as a supervisor?
How much does on-site delivery cost?
See also
Legal basis · Sources
- Act on the Punishment of Serious Accidents, etc. (Korea Law Information Center)
- Enforcement Decree of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act (Korea Law Information Center)
- Enforcement Rule of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Table 4 — Safety and Health Training Hours by Course
- Ministry of Employment and Labor, “2025 (Cumulative) Industrial Accident Statistics — Fatal Accidents Subject to Investigation,” preliminary results (31 Mar 2026)
- Ministry of Employment and Labor, “Commentary on the Serious Accidents Punishment Act — Serious Industrial Accidents”
- Supreme Court, Dec. 28, 2023, Case No. 2023Do12316 (Korea Steel case)
This page provides general information to help you understand the Serious Accidents Punishment Act and the Occupational Safety and Health Act. It is not legal advice. Applicability, scope of obligations, and penalty levels depend on a workplace’s size, industry, and contract structure, on amendments to the law, and on the facts of each case. For specific matters, please consult an attorney, a certified labor attorney, or the local employment and labor office. Cited rulings summarize press reports and publicly released case materials and may differ from the full text of the judgment. .