The government will move to expand infrastructure to create a safe laboratory environment. It will raise standards for dedicated safety staff and strengthen related training.

The Ministry of Science and ICT on Tuesday held the 16th Lab Safety Review Committee meeting at Hanyang University’s Seoul campus and deliberated and approved measures to strengthen laboratory safety.

The measures were prepared to reduce repeated laboratory safety accidents and respond to changes in the research environment that are becoming advanced, larger-scale and higher-risk. The ministry established the measures with a field-focused approach through gathering opinions from universities and research institutes and running working groups of experts and researchers.

The package is based on 3 strategic pillars: strengthening the lab safety support system, spreading a safety culture and establishing an accountability system. It will focus efforts on improving environments and strengthening management systems, particularly at high-risk labs where accidents occur frequently.

To bring safety grade 2 and grade 3 high-risk labs up to grade 1 standards, the government will expand safety infrastructure including local exhaust ventilation equipment, dedicated reagent storage cabinets, high-pressure gas cabinets and waste reagent treatment facilities. It plans to raise statutory safety management cost standards for institutions subject to the Laboratory Safety Act to at least 2 percent of labor costs for general projects and at least 3 percent for high-risk projects.

It will also tighten standards for dedicated safety management staff. Institutions with 3,000 or more research activity participants will expand dedicated staff to at least 2 people. Institutions with high-risk labs will designate one additional person per 250 labs. It will also work in parallel to improve the authority and treatment of laboratory safety environment managers.

It will expand new training hours for student researchers in high-risk labs to 4 hours from 2 hours. It will improve the system so they receive pre-training before participating in research. It will also promote a participatory safety culture by expanding hands-on training and building lab-specific safety training and experience facilities, and by running safety campaigns and safety weeks.

The government will also increase accountability of research entities and lab managers. If serious accidents are repeated for the same cause, it will increase fines imposed on the head of the research entity, and if a lab manager violates legal safety obligations and a serious injury accident occurs, it will impose a fine on the manager. It will also overhaul the management system, including more detailed accident classification standards and mandatory reporting of accidents involving hospitalization of 3 days or more.

The ministry plans to implement the measures in stages through revisions to relevant laws and regulations.

First Vice Minister Goo Hyuk-chae (구혁채) inspected a semiconductor research facility after the committee meeting and said, "Protecting the lives and safety of researchers is the foundation of national competitiveness," adding that the ministry will continue comprehensive institutional improvements and support to strengthen lab safety.