Plan the management arrangement before increasing factory headcount
This manufacturing occupational safety and health manager budget calculator helps factory owners and HR teams check safety and health staffing separately, then compare in-house appointments and designated-agency outsourcing.
Hiring more workers or renewing a service contract can expose both a staffing gap and avoidable expenditure.
The supported comparison covers a confirmed single manufacturing workplace with 50–299 workers under the relevant legal headcount for each function.
Korea-based · 2026 rules · Decree effective 2026-08-01 · verified 2026-11-03All amounts are KRW.
Default salaries, fees and the 15% employer burden are fictional examples, not market prices or statutory contribution rates.
Confirm actual quotes, designated-agency status and the applicable rules with the competent local labor office before contracting.
Check Annex 3 and Annex 5 separately
Article 2(2) of the Occupational Safety and Health Act Enforcement Decree uses the Korean Standard Industrial Classification, or KSIC.
A broad business-registration description does not establish that the safety and health annex rows are the same.
Choose rows already verified against the actual industry and process.
Safety: Annex 3 rows 2–21
These rows cover food and beverages; textiles excluding apparel; wood; pulp and paper; petroleum products; chemicals; pharmaceuticals; rubber and plastics; non-metallic minerals; basic and fabricated metals; electronics, computers and communications; medical, precision and optical equipment; electrical equipment; machinery; vehicles; other transport equipment; furniture; other products; and industrial machinery repair.
Other manufacturing is checked against row 29.
Health: Annex 5 rows 2–19, 22 and 23
Review the precise scope for textile dyeing and finishing, fur products and fur accessories, relevant fur and leather manufacturing, footwear, petroleum products, chemicals and pharmaceuticals, rubber and plastics, non-metallic minerals and metals, machinery, electronics, electrical equipment, vehicles, other transport equipment and furniture.
Row 22 requires separate confirmation of the designated hazardous-substance business and notice.
Other manufacturing is checked against row 23.
For example, the safety and health rows for textile businesses have different scopes.
The calculator does not classify a hazardous business merely from a substance name.
An unconfirmed row withholds the result, so prepare the process description and classification code first.
What the 50-worker and 300-worker thresholds mean
Supported staffing comparison by confirmed manufacturing headcount| Legal headcount | Managers for that function | Calculator treatment |
|---|
| Under 20 | 0 | Outside these manager thresholds; other duties remain |
| 20–49 | 0 | Review the separate safety-and-health coordinator rule |
| 50–299 | At least 1 | Compare in-house and designated-agency arrangements |
| 300+ | Design withheld | Dedicated-duty threshold; individual staffing review |
Decree Articles 16(2) and 20(2) establish the dedicated-duty threshold at 300 workers.
This does not automatically mean that two managers are required.
Additional staffing counts depend on separate industry-specific annex thresholds, so this calculator withholds staffing design at 300+.
For manufacturing with 20–49 workers, Article 24 provides a separate one-person safety-and-health coordinator arrangement; it is not a requirement to appoint one safety manager plus one health manager under these annexes.
Why direct employees and contractor employees are not automatically added
The direct-employee and contractor-employee fields organize reference records only.
Enter a separately verified legal headcount for safety and another for health.
Decree Article 16(3) contains contracting-related inclusion and exceptions, Article 16(5) addresses a separate contractor appointment exception, and Article 20(3) applies provisions to health management.
Automatically adding everyone working for a supplier can therefore give the wrong staffing result.
Headcount evidence checklist
- Check workplace boundaries, direct-employee rosters and the contracting structure.
- Review separate contractor appointments and any dedicated appointment covering contractor workers.
- Count only verified qualified appointments or equivalent valid designated-agency coverage as current arrangements.
- Separately verify whether one person may lawfully hold both safety and health roles.
The same-scope 12-month cost formulas
In-house arrangement
Required count × [annual salary × (1 + employer burden ÷ 100) + annual other costs + one-time recruiting]
Include gross pay and bonuses in salary.
Allocate retirement reserves, training and equipment using actual costs.
Avoid including the same payroll contribution or reserve in both the burden percentage and other costs.
The final annual amount is rounded to the nearest KRW.
Designated-agency outsourcing
Monthly quote × 12 + setup cost + annual retained internal cost
Confirm whether visits, travel, site checks and document support are included.
Internal records, cooperation and administration may remain after outsourcing and belong in the comparison.
These are whole-arrangement budgets for the coming 12 months, not incremental hiring costs for current shortages.
If recruiting costs will not occur, set them to zero.
Treat common costs consistently and use the same actual-burden tax basis: exclude recoverable taxes and include non-recoverable taxes where appropriate.
The model does not automatically apply tax rates, tax credits, subsidies or statutory employer contribution percentages.
Five steps from inputs to a quote request
- Confirm KSIC, the manufacturing rows in Annex 3 and Annex 5, and workplace boundaries.
- Review rosters and contracting records, enter the two legal headcounts and confirm the facts.
- Enter verified current arrangements to compare required counts with shortages.
- Enter actual annual salary, employer costs, designated-agency quotes, setup and retained costs.
- Confirm the same scope, compare all four arrangements and save the TXT review with report reference dates.
Confirmation boxes record that you have completed the relevant checks.
Checking a box while leaving fictional defaults unchanged does not turn those amounts into a real quote.
Compare each input against a written proposal and its service scope.
A fictional 100-worker factory example
Suppose the reference rosters contain 80 direct employees and 20 contractor workers.
After a separate legal review, both safety and health legal headcounts are confirmed as 100; the calculator did not infer that sum.
Each function requires at least one manager in the supported model.
With no existing verified arrangements, each shortage is one.
The following figures illustrate the calculation and are not market rates.
Safety budget
Annual salary KRW 42,000,000, burden 15%, other annual costs KRW 2,000,000 and recruiting KRW 1,000,000 produce an annual in-house cost of KRW 51,300,000.
A monthly quote of KRW 300,000, setup KRW 200,000 and retained annual cost KRW 1,000,000 produce an outsourced cost of KRW 4,800,000.
Health budget
Annual salary KRW 40,000,000 with the same burden, other costs and recruiting produces KRW 49,000,000 in-house.
A monthly quote of KRW 250,000, setup KRW 100,000 and retained annual cost KRW 1,000,000 produce KRW 4,100,000 outsourced.
Both in-house total KRW 100,300,000.
Safety outsourced with health in-house totals KRW 53,800,000; safety in-house with health outsourced totals KRW 55,400,000.
Both outsourced total KRW 8,900,000, a difference of KRW 91,400,000 from both in-house.
The 50–299 range does not automatically impose dedicated duties: where a qualified existing employee can perform the work, separately review an appropriate arrangement using the actual allocation of time and additional cost.
Interpret the lowest scenario and break-even monthly quote
The staffing result shows the required arrangement for each function, while the comparison shows all four in-house/outsourcing combinations.
A star marks the lowest entered cost and all ties are shown.
It does not certify service quality or legal compliance.
Break-even monthly quote
(Annual in-house cost − outsourcing setup − annual retained internal cost) ÷ 12
The safety example gives KRW 4,175,000 per month.
The health example displays approximately KRW 3,991,667.
If setup and retained costs alone exceed the in-house amount, no non-negative break-even monthly quote exists and the value is withheld.
An unconfirmed quote is distinct from a confirmed zero quote.
A function with no required manager has zero comparison cost under this model.
Appointment and termination each have a 14-day reporting rule
Decree Article 16(6) and (7) require documents evidencing appointment/outsourcing or dismissal/termination within 14 days of the relevant event.
Article 20(3) applies the reporting provisions to health management.
Under Enforcement Rule Article 11, manufacturing appointment/outsourcing uses Form 2 and dismissal/termination uses Form 3-2.
Confirm the actual documents and submission channel with the competent local labor office.
2026-11-03 plus 14 calendar days gives a reference date of 2026-11-17.
2026-12-25 gives 2027-01-08.
These dates are before weekend/public-holiday adjustments and filing-hour review; they are not final legal deadline determinations.
The reporting period after termination is not permission to leave the workplace without lawful coverage.
Practical uses and limits
Growing beyond 49 workers
Reconfirm the legal headcounts before and after hiring and compare each function at the 50-worker threshold.
Do not assume that a daily headcount method for the Labor Standards Act automatically determines OSH staffing.
Renewing a contract or approaching 300
Include visits, travel, service scope and retained cooperation in the renewal comparison.
As the workplace approaches 300 workers, review dedicated duties and industry-specific counts before deciding from a low outsourcing quote alone.
Joint appointments have separate same-employer, location/distance and combined-headcount conditions and are excluded from automatic comparison.
Remote-area health-outsourcing exceptions, excluded businesses, increased-staffing or replacement orders, construction, qualification decisions, safety certification and allocation of contractor responsibility are also excluded.
If either function is unconfirmed or reaches 300 workers, the overall cost ranking is withheld.
Frequently asked questions
Does 50 workers require one safety and one health manager?
For confirmed manufacturing rows and separately verified legal headcounts of 50–299 with no special rule, this model applies at least one per function.
Does 300 workers automatically require two managers?
No. 300 is the dedicated-duty threshold; the annexes have separate industry-specific staffing thresholds.
Does outsourcing mean there is no manager?
Lawful outsourcing under Decree Article 19(2) and Article 23(3) treats the designated agency as the manager.
Should I add all contractor employees?
No automatic addition is made. Review Article 16(3), Article 16(5) and Article 20(3) and enter separately confirmed counts.
Does an existing manager reduce the budget?
It may reduce the shortage, but costs describe the whole 12-month arrangement. Adjust recruiting and other amounts that will not actually arise.
Is 15% a statutory employer rate?
No. It is a fictional input. Enter actual employer burden and other costs without duplication.
Can a 20–49-worker factory appoint nobody?
Review the separate one-person safety-and-health coordinator system under Article 24. Other OSH duties remain.
Can I file the TXT and use its dates as final deadlines?
The TXT is a review, not an official form. Verify statutory forms, evidence, holiday treatment and actual filing deadlines with the competent labor office.
Official sources and updates
The National Law Information OPEN API was checked on 2026-11-03: Decree MST 288347, Enforcement Rule MST 288431, Annex 3 ID 18332361 and Annex 5 ID 18332365.
The linked official PDFs were used to verify manufacturing rows.
The annexes show amendment date 2024-06-25 and belong here to the Decree version effective 2026-08-01.
Act Articles 17 and 18 were compared between search-current MST 291447 and earlier MST 283449; future staged commencement was not treated as entirely effective in 2026.
Recheck after amendments, process or industry changes, contracting changes, headcount thresholds and contract renewals.
The result does not determine lawful appointments or accident liability.
Turn the result into questions for a written proposal
Prepare the industry code, legal-headcount evidence, current arrangements, visits, reporting scope and remaining internal tasks for a designated agency.
Budget separately for health examinations and risk assessment where required; outsourcing a manager function does not automatically include every related service.