Herald English » omron

Prevent and Monitor Industrial Accidents Utilizing AI

HeraldK — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 11:00:30 +0000

Korea has not been stigmatized as a country with many industrial accidents along with long working hours. Statistics collected from 1964 to 2012 since the introduction of industrial accident insurance show that the incidence of industrial accidents has steadily decreased, but the number of industrial accident deaths has not decreased. According to the statistics, the gap between the incidence of industrial accidents and deaths per 10,000 people significantly fluctuates. This gap was particularly noticeable in the 1990s. In 2012 alone, the number of workers who died in accidents while working reached 2,165. Accordingly, the Korean government announced the enforcement decree as follows.

It is a bill that strengthens criminal punishment for employers in the event of serious accidents such as death accidents in companies, and passed the plenary session of the National Assembly on January 8, 2021 in Korea. The Severe Disaster Business Punishment Act stipulates the level of punishment, such as imposing not only risk prevention obligations but also criminal penalties on employers and management managers when they violate their obligations and lead to serious accidents. While the current Occupational Safety and Health Act punishes corporations only if they violate safety and health regulations, there is a difference in priority in that business owners are also held legally responsible separately from corporations.
Meanwhile, legislation has been discussed as a petition filed by Kim Mi-sook, the mother of Kim Yong-kyun, a non-regular worker who died while working at a Taean thermal power plant, under the title of “Petition for the enactment of the Corporate Punishment Act for Safe Workplaces and Society” on August 26, 2020.

First, disasters are divided into serious industrial accidents and civil disasters. The former means one or more deaths or two or more injuries due to the same accident, and the latter means one or more deaths or 10 or more injuries due to the same accident. The scope of the management manager subject to the legislation was defined as the CEO or the director. According to this law, business operators must establish manpower and budget necessary for disaster prevention and measures to prevent disaster. In addition, it is obligated to take measures to fulfill its obligations under safety and health laws and implement corrective measures ordered by central administrative agencies and local governments, such as improvement and correction. If more than one person dies due to failure to fulfill these obligations, the CEO or manager will be sentenced to up to one year in prison or fined up to 1 billion won. Jail and fines can be imposed simultaneously. If two or more injured people need treatment for more than six months or three or more people with diseases prescribed by Presidential Decree within one year, they will also be punished by imprisonment for up to seven years or a fine of up to KRW 100 million won. Corporations will be fined up to 5 billion won when more than one person dies and up to 1 billion won when two or more injured people need treatment for more than six months. The compensation for damages of a corporation is up to five times or less of the amount of damage. However, it stipulated that a fine shall not be imposed if the company fails to pay considerable attention and supervise the work in order to prevent violations.
Workplaces with less than five employees are exempt from punishment, and the enforcement of this law takes effect one year after promulgation. Businesses with less than 50 employees will be suspended from applying the law for two years after the promulgation, and will be applied from 2024 with a total period of three years. Regarding the Severe Disaster Corporate Punishment Act, the management community argues that corporate activities will shrink by making companies take excessive responsibility, and critics say that it is difficult for companies to prepare for the enforcement of the law due to ambiguous provisions. On the other hand, the labor community protested, saying that the legislative purpose retreated as the grace period was prepared and the level of punishment was lowered.

Prior to this enforcement decree, GB SOFT was already applying solutions to large Korean companies and many workers’ workplaces that combine video and artificial intelligence. More than 16 construction sites in Daelim Construction and large-scale workers’ companies of Hyundai Motor’s Chinese plant and Lotte Engineering & Construction have also been tested and reviewed to introduce the company’s solution to Japanese global companies including Omron, Datascope, and Toyota.

▲ GB Soft Co., Ltd.
▲ CEO : Ki-bum Park
▲ http://gb-soft.co.kr
▲ gbsoft@gb-soft.co.kr
▲ +82-53-716-4884

▲ HHS Co., Ltd.
▲ CEO : Hyung-seob Han
▲ Brand : HHS, PINYFINY
▲ www.hhskorea.com
▲ overhs@naver.com

Sam Kim

Asia Journal

South Korean Health Tech and Beauty Expansion in Japan

HeraldK — Fri, 28 Jan 2022 11:00:01 +0000

Owing to the COVID-19 pandemic, many corporations worldwide have been experiencing a reduction in sales for the last two years. Correspondingly, means of conducting business internationally have been severely impeded.

Despite national efforts to help domestic companies reach the international market, the disparity between pre-pandemic and post-pandemic outcomes has been quite obvious.

Yet even during these less than favourable times, Korean businesses “incubated” by the LA Times Asia Journal continue to be connected to businesses in Japan and prosper.

Korea’s GB Soft (developer of AI technologies that interpret camera images to identify such vital signs as blood pressure, oxygen saturation level, heart rate, and body temperature) signed an NDA with Japan’s Data Scope (a company that develops facial recognition software; it plans to collaborate with Taiwan’s Foxconn to set up a Shenzen Data Scope factory in China and globally distribute facial recognition cameras, security cameras, and the like). They continue to meet virtually at present, to discuss licensing and joint development agreements. This is a result of the LA Times Asia Journal facilitating the meeting of GB Soft and Elematec (a subsidiary of Toyota), and Elematec subsequently doing business with Data Scope.

Korea’s Infomining (developer of a system that uses an AI server to analyze one’s electrocardiogram, blood pressure, blood sugar, oxygen saturation level, heart rate, and body temperature gathered from a smart watch and relays the results to a smartphone) is working together with Japan’s OMRON (manufacturer of medical devices) and OMRON’s research laboratory in Dalian, China, to jointly develop innovative medical devices targeted at the Chinese market. An NDA is scheduled to be signed by the beginning of February. This too, is a result of the LA Times Asia Journal facilitating the meeting of GB Soft, Infomining, and Elematec, and Elematec subsequently doing business with OMRON.

Korea’s VODANA (manufacturer of hair straighteners and curling irons), Korea’s Emma Healthcare (manufacturer of Plasma Skincare Device), and Korea’s Skin Watchers (manufacture of cosmetics) have already completed their exports to Japan’s Clean First (Trading Company). Clean First, in partnership with Japan’s Toda (Trading Company), has scheduled its entry into Don Quijote (a Japanese discount store). They are also planning for sales on such online platforms as Japan’s Makuake (Cloud Funding company). This too, is a result of LA Times Asia Journal facilitating the meeting of VODANA, Emma Healthcare, Skin Watchers, and Clean First.

Like so, it is expected that the “Incubating System” put into place by the LA Times Asia Journal will continue to connect Korean and Japanese companies and to catalyze business activities between them.

Mike Choi

Asia Journal

Business Operations in Japan

HeraldK — Fri, 31 Dec 2021 11:00:45 +0000

Among the many Korean SMEs that are being incubated by the Los Angeles Times Asia Journal, a few of them have been operating in Japan.GB Soft, a Korean company that developed an AI and IOT based solution for measuring biosignals, has finalized their NDA (nondisclosure agreement) with Data Scope for a joint development. Asia Journal introduced GB Soft to Elematec, a Japanese trading company under the TOYOTA group. From there, Elematec connected GB Soft to Data Scope, a Japanese facial recognition software development company.

In addition, Elematec’s sales activities at OMRON’s Future Creation Research Institute, a Japanese medical device manufacturing and sales company, concluded an NDA with Infomining. Infomining is a healthcare service company that provides healthcare solutions using AI and IOT. They were introduced to Elematec by Asia Journal. Together with OMRON, they have intentions of collaborating to develop new medical device products aimed at the Chinese market.

LA Times Asia Journal is assisting two Korean companies in the beauty industry, Emma Healthcare and Skinwatchers, with their business operation in Japan. These two companies were picked up by Clean First, a Japanese company that primarily dealt with the solar energy industry. Clean First will work with their domestic partner in Japan, Toda Corp. to enter the beauty industry market. Emma Healthcare and Skinwatchers’ products are expected to be sold in Don Quijote, Japan’s largest discount store, and make its appearance on Maukake, an online crowd-funding platform.

Emma Healthcare’s beauty device, Plalucy, utilizes plasma and galvanic technology. It uses the principle that numerous ions in plasma penetrate the skin and promote skin regeneration. The radical in plasma is the only natural substance on Earth that is completely harmless to the human body, with sterilization power equal to 2,000 times that of ozone and 180 times that of ultraviolet rays. This will result in better absorption of cosmetic products. The plasma’s ion and radical can reliably and safely eliminate inflammation and bacteria in the skin as well.

Skin Watchers’ Cleansing Oil was selected by ELLE, a French fashion and lifestyle magazine, into the “Top 27 Cleansing Oil” by Beauty Editor and Consumer evaluation worldwide. It is a product that is on par with luxury goods such as Shu Uemura, Clinique, Origins, Shiseido, Clarins, Fresh, Biotherm, and Christian Dior. Skin Watchers prioritize the use of premium, lightweight-natural ingredients such as apricot seed oil, macadamia seed oil, and meadow foam seed oil, which are good for skin health. In addition, Skin Watchers’ unique technology completes the product with high cleaning power, which is well received.

Despite adversities COVID-19 gave to businesses all around the world, there is a steady entry of Korean SMEs into the Japanese market. Japanese companies are recognizing the true future value of Korean small and medium-sized companies.

Mike Choi

Asia Journal