재난안전관리체계의 개선에 관한 법적 고찰 - ‘선박안전 관리법제’를 중심으로 -

Abstract

The paper is to briefly summarize the disaster safety management systems of South Korea, especially the laws on safe management of vessels and to propose tasks for improvement to prevent recurrence of ship accidents after examining the laws related to safe management of vessels in foreign countries. In 2004, Korea enacted the ‘Framework Act on the Management of Disasters and Safety’ to integrate the existing law system with diversified laws on disasters and accidents, with an attempt to connect laws as a mother law of all laws and ordinances related to disasters. However, it cannot be guaranteed that the safety accidents of vessels will be completely prevented with merely the laws related to safety of vessels. This is because a nation has to do 2 things in relation to safety, one is for the National Assembly to establish a legislation and the other is for the Administration to effectively enforce such legislation. Although a lot of resources and quality resources are required for the former, more resources are necessary for the latter. The common thing found in the laws of foreign countries is that safety inspections of vessels are extremely thorough and strict. In other words, random and special inspections as well as regular inspections are conducted, and safety inspection includes the inspections for safety of vessels, safety of cargo, safety of vessel's equipment and safety management system upon ship accidents. In addition, it is impressive that the US has a command system that can quickly run the disaster relief system by strengthening the authority and responsibility of a field agency primarily responsible for an accident. In this regard, the officials in charge of disaster and safety for each local government should be sufficiently ensured in Korea for specialized tasks related to disaster management, and a disaster management manual that is suitable for each local government should be prepared for repetitive drills and training. It is because prevention and preparation is more important than actions and resolving after an accident for disaster management.