NH NongHyup Financial will build an ESG support framework with the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency to provide preferential financial terms to small and mid-sized companies with strong industrial safety standards and to link safety diagnostics with technical consulting.

NH NongHyup Financial said it signed a memorandum of understanding on Wednesday with the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency on mutually beneficial cooperation to support industrial safety for small and mid-sized companies.

The two organisations plan to build a cooperation framework that combines expertise in industrial safety and financial infrastructure, so that corporate investment in safety management leads to lower financing costs and broader ESG management.

The agency will identify outstanding companies that carry out safety management activities in industrial safety workplaces and recommend them to NongHyup Financial. It will use its risk assessment recognition system and safety diagnostic consulting capabilities, and also support links with related technology companies.

NongHyup Financial will offer dedicated preferential lending products to companies recommended by the agency for excellence in safety management. It plans to help lower financing costs when companies invest in safety technology and equipment.

It will also gradually build a "corporate ESG management support system" to support ESG management, including industrial safety, for its small and mid-sized corporate clients, based on technology and information provided by the agency.

The two organisations agreed to cooperate to address safety blind spots that are relatively vulnerable to industrial accidents, including agricultural sites and agri-food workplaces. They plan to support efforts to improve awareness of safety management and expand safety infrastructure in rural areas, where accident risks have increased due to ageing and mechanisation.

Lee Chan-woo (이찬우), chairman of NH NongHyup Financial, said, "We will expand practical mutually beneficial and inclusive finance models so that industrial safety can take hold as a company's core competitiveness."

Kim Hyun-joong (김현중), chairman of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, said, "If the industrial safety-related data and capabilities accumulated by the agency are linked to financial benefits, it will serve as a turning point for companies to view safety management not as a cost but as an investment."