산업안전보건법상 사업주의 포괄적 보호의무 도입방안

초록

The Occupational Safety and Health Act constitutes a core legal framework for preventing industrial accidents and protecting the life and health of persons who provide labor. However, the current Korean system largely relies on a rule-based approach, which enumerates specific duties and assesses liability based on compliance with individually prescribed measures. While this structure provides clarity, it has shown significant limitations in addressing the complex and evolving risk structures of modern workplaces. In particular, contemporary labor environments—characterized by platform work, multi-layered subcontracting, and dependent self-employment—cannot be adequately captured within a traditional employer–employee framework. Furthermore, the existing system focuses on formal compliance with fragmented obligations rather than the overall adequacy of risk management, often failing to properly address systemic failures in workplace safety. This study argues for a transition from a rule-based regulatory model to a risk management-based framework, centered on the introduction of a comprehensive general duty of care imposed on employers. It analyzes the structural limitations of the current law and examines comparative models in the United Kingdom, the European Union, Germany, and Singapore. Based on this analysis, the study proposes a legislative framework for Korea that expands the scope of protection, incorporates general principles of risk management, and restructures subordinate regulations accordingly. Ultimately, the study aims to reposition occupational safety and health law as a preventive, risk-oriented system that shifts the regulatory focus from fragmented rule compliance to the adequacy of risk management processes, thereby enabling a more coherent attribution of legal responsibility.

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