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MOEL Ordinance No. 393: revised training schedules and administrative procedures (Partial amendment to the Enforcement Rule of the Occupational Safety and Health Act)

Field Safety Briefing editorial teamPublished Updated

Half-year scheduling does not halve the annual training requirement

The general Annex 4 baseline became at least six hours per half-year for office and direct sales workers and twelve hours for other workers. Supervisor training was placed in a separate category; its general baseline remains sixteen hours annually.

Check sector, size, exemptions and reductions separately. The period used for the relevant Article 27(2) training exemption was also changed from quarter to half-year.

Category → person → hours
Not a real site photo
  1. Materials and records: Before training, prepare materials for each training type and keep separate records for each course.
  2. Seating: Use attendance signatures to confirm that all intended participants attended during the training period.
  3. Board: Before training, prepare explanatory material for the course and compare the training content with delivery records.
Educational reconstruction · Not actual equipment or a real site. Source: relevant provisions linked below

Amendment wording comparison

27②quarter → half-year
29①within3 months → within6 months

Based on the official promulgated amendment; English entries are explanatory translations.

Training types, schedules and evidence
  1. 1 Worker periodic trainingSelect the half-year training-hours requirement for the relevant job category.
  2. 2 Supervisor trainingCheck the supervisor’s separate annual requirement alongside the distinct worker half-year requirement.
  3. 3 New job / changed work /Check the eligibility and task conditions for recruitment, changed-work and special training separately from periodic training.
  4. 4 Health-activity exemptionCheck exemption evidence against appointment-duty conditions and actual participation records, separately from planned hours.
  5. 5 Job refresher trainingCheck the two-year reference date and the six-month attendance window on either side separately.
Educational comparison table · Does not replace the legal text. Source: Enforcement Rule of the Occupational Safety and Health Act, Articles 27(2) and 29(1), Annex 4

Link exempted hours to participation evidence

Before applying the workers’ health-centre exemption, establish the workplace’s appointment-duty conditions and the qualifying activity. Scheduled but unattended hours, or another person’s evidence, do not demonstrate the employee’s participation. Keeping completed training and exemption evidence side by side distinguishes their different bases.

The reasons for Order393 concern more flexible timing, hours, content and operation. They do not eliminate task hazards or permit arbitrary reduction of content. Flexibility across a half-year must still coexist with training needed before assignment to work.

Hours alone do not establish content. Periodic and special courses of equal duration can require different Annex5 topics. The time table is not certification of instructor qualifications, method or content; those requirements need their own examination.

Transitional application to training already in progress

For Order393, the general commencement date for the training changes is 2023-09-27. The following-day provision for consultant certificates does not move that training date. Revised Annexes4 and5 apply to training conducted after commencement, rather than merely to plans drafted afterward.

The Article27(2) application clause covers employees whose exempted quarter had not ended at commencement. The refresher clause covers cycles falling due within the preceding 6 months. These conditions require the actual training date and the period then in progress; they do not instruct workplaces to recreate every historical record.

The current Annex4 was amended on 2025-05-30. Its main periodic and hiring hours match the 2023 table, but exemption references and notes are not the same edition. Keep the historical amendment explanation separate from the table used for today’s training plan.

Separate the training category before adding hours

Periodic training recurs during employment. Hiring training prepares a person to start work, while changed-task training and special training each have separate triggers. Completing a half-year total does not establish that training for a new task is complete. Hiring training likewise does not remove later periodic-training requirements. Select the training category first, then the employee’s duties and contract term.

Office workers and employees directly engaged in sales generally require at least 6 hours each half-year; other workers require 12. Supervisors have a separate table requiring 16 hours annually. Copying the half-year schedule to supervisors confuses both timing and content. These are the general table values, not a determination of exemptions. Check the Enforcement Decree’s scope and Article27 of the Enforcement Rule as well.

For example, the hiring-training row for a fixed-term contract longer than 1 week and no longer than 1 month requires 4 hours. If special-training work is also assigned, separately examine the task category and notes. Contract duration and hazardous-task classification answer different questions.

Exemption under Article27 and the attendance window under Article29

The quarter-to-half-year change in Article 27(2) concerns participation in workers’ health-centre health-management activities. It applies to workplaces not obliged to appoint safety and health managers and requires documents that verify the time spent participating. It is not a blanket exemption for every KOSHA course. The separate annual reference for supervisors remains.

Refresher training is anchored to each date falling 2 years after initial training. Order393 widened the attendance window from 3 months before and after that date to 6 months. It did not reset the anchor date or change the cycle to 6 months. Retain the initial-training date and the refresher due date before selecting a booking within the permitted window.

Periodic half-year training and role-specific refresher training may share a calendar but need separate entries. One describes the management period for worker training; the other describes the attendance window around a due date. The shared number 6 does not make them the same cycle.

Application conditions

ConditionProvision to examine
RegularDuties → half-year hours
SupervisorSeparate annual rule
Hiring / changed task / specialSeparate category and task tests

Distinguish induction from refresher training

Induction categories distinguish daily workers and fixed-term contracts of up to one week (at least one hour), contracts longer than one week but up to one month (at least four hours), and other workers (at least eight hours). For special hazardous-task training, check the applicable work and required hours separately.

For specified safety and health duty holders, the refresher window around each two-year anniversary after initial training widened from three months before/after to six months before/after. The two-year cycle itself did not change.

Check your workplace

  • Have workers been categorised by role and contract period?
  • Is the two-year anniversary and six-month window recorded?
  • Have the conditions for any exemption or MSDS linkage been checked?

When several training requirements concern one person

For example, moving an employee from sales to another task requires separate consideration of the periodic-training category and changed-task training. Periodic hours completed in the former role do not establish learning about the new task’s hazards. These categories occupy different rows because their triggers differ. Record the course category so that totals compare like with like.

For a newly hired supervisor, distinguish annual periodic training from hiring training. The current Annex4 supervisor table specifies16 annual hours,8 hiring hours and2 changed-task hours. Do not transfer short-contract rows from the general employee table into that separate table without reading its conditions and notes.

A short contract does not by itself remove special training. Annex5 connects hazardous tasks with content, and the time table has separate categories and notes. One universal special-training figure would hide those conditions. A lookup tool also answers only the classification entered: a correct number for the wrong task can still be the wrong result for that employee.

Sanctions

The provision-specific penalty and progressive fine amounts could not be verified; no amounts are stated here.

Primary sources

Related tools and guidance

Ordinance No. 393, Addenda Article 5 — Korean statutory text
별표 4 및 별표 5의 개정규정은 이 규칙 시행 이후 실시하는 교육부터 적용한다.
Ordinance 393: revised training schedules and administrative procedures — Safety Kim