Full Acquittal on Appeal in Prosecution for Violation of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act

Lee & Ko represented SK Multi Utility Co., Ltd. (a power generation subsidiary of SK Chemicals), together with its Chief Executive Officer and Plant Manager, in a criminal prosecution alleging violations of the Serious Accidents Punishment Act (“SAPA”) and the Occupational Safety and Health Act (“OSHA”) arising from a fatal accident at a coal unloading facility involving an employee of a contractor. Following a full acquittal at first instance, Lee & Ko secured dismissal of the prosecution’s appeal, and the appellate court affirmed the acquittal in full.

On December 20, 2022, at a coal unloading facility of Company A, a dump truck loaded with coal overturned during the unloading process when the driver, employed by a transportation company, raised the truck bed without opening the rear gate. A contractor employee who was present at the site was crushed by the coal and the vehicle and died.

The appellate court held that a causal link could not be established between the fatal accident and the alleged breaches, including an alleged failure to protect workers from falling-object hazards and an alleged failure to establish an adequate safety and health management system under SAPA. The court further reasoned that, where the accident was clearly attributable to the driver’s operational error, imposing criminal liability on management solely by reason of the occurrence of the harmful result would be unwarranted, underscoring that SAPA does not impose strict result-based liability.

In circumstances where there were no settled judicial principles on causation under SAPA, Lee & Ko conducted a detailed analysis of the accident mechanism and surrounding facts, and presented a reasoned case that criminal liability requires proof of causation between any breach of statutory safety and health obligations and the fatal outcome.

This judgment is expected to serve as an important reference point in assessing causation in ongoing SAPA prosecutions and in future cases arising from fatal industrial accidents.