Two high-profile accidents recently occurred at workplaces, both of which took lives. The consensus of the public is that the mishaps are attributable to negligent security measures.

Some claimed that these incidents could have been avoided as they were the type of accidents that often take place in underdeveloped countries and there were few safety measures in place for the workers.

On Wednesday, four people died and 10 others were injured after a subway construction site in Namyangju, Gyeonggi Province, collapsed due to what is believed to be a gas explosion. The blast took place while 17 workers were welding iron bars.

One worker died in the explosion, while three others were found dead after being trapped under the debris 15 meters underground when the construction site collapsed.

Last Saturday, a 19-year-old worker died when he was trapped between a screen door separating the subway platform and the train on subway line No. 2. An employee of a company that Seoul Metro had subcontracted for door maintenance had been repairing the platform screen door at Guui Station in Seoul.

He was working by himself, with neither a supervisor nor a signboard to notify the drivers of approaching trains.

This was the third fatal accident of its kind to occur in three years. In 2013, a screen door maintenance worker was fatally hit by a train while he was fixing a screen door at Seongsu Station. In August 2014, an employee from the same company died from a similar accident at Gangnam Station. Both employees were carrying out the tasks alone when the accidents happened.

When viewed in terms of workplace safety, South Korea resembles a third-world country. Data shows that the country has the highest rate of industrial accidents among 35 members of the Organization for Economic Development and Cooperation. Last year, 955 workers were killed at industrial workplaces in Korea.

Industrial accidents occur because companies do not follow safety regulations. For instance, in an earlier inspection of a shipbuilder and steel producer, the Ministry of Employment and Labor detected about 500 and 1,000 breaches of safety regulations, respectively.

One reason for the disregard of safety rules is that the punishments meted out for violations are too light, consisting only of fines.

Many companies still cut corners on safety to save on costs. Hence, toughening punishments for safety breaches is the right solution.

As for the subway-related accidents, police need to look into whether the companies involved -- including a conglomerate-based builder -- have overlooked the dangerous working conditions of workers hired through subcontractors to slash costs.