You've Had a Workplace Accident — What to Do First: From the Injury Report to Filing with Korea's Workers' Comp Fund

1. See a Doctor First — Getting the Initial Medical Opinion

If you're injured, the first thing to do is get medical treatment. You don't need to hunt down a hospital that specializes in workers' comp cases. Any general clinic will do, and you simply ask the treating physician for an initial medical opinion (chojin sogyeonseo). This document records the injured area, diagnosis, and the doctor's medical opinion on how the injury occurred — and it's the core piece of evidence submitted alongside the medical care benefit application to Korea Workers' Compensation & Welfare Service (KCOMWEL). Tell the hospital's admissions desk you need this opinion "for a workers' comp claim," and most will walk you through the process on the spot.

2. Where and How to Fill Out the Medical Care Benefit Application

You can download the medical care benefit application form from KCOMWEL's website or its Total Service portal, and many hospital admissions desks keep paper copies on hand. The form asks for the date, time, and location of the accident, how it happened, and specifically which body part was injured. If there was a witness, include their name and contact information — it helps if an investigation follows. It's also worth gathering photos from the time of the accident, work-instruction texts, or coworker statements ahead of time. Once the form is complete, submit it together with the initial medical opinion. Separately from the medical care benefit application, note that temporary disability compensation — the living-expense benefit for the period you can't work — requires its own separate form, so it's efficient to ask the hospital admissions desk or the KCOMWEL branch to walk you through both applications at once. If the recovery period stretches on long enough that it leads to leaving the job, it's worth knowing in advance that unemployment benefit applications stall out if the separation certificate never arrives, so you don't get caught off guard later.

3. Filing with KCOMWEL — Online, Fax, or In Person: Where Does It Go?

There are three ways to file. You can log into the KCOMWEL Total Service site with a joint certificate or simplified authentication and file online, or gather your documents and either visit the KCOMWEL branch with jurisdiction over your workplace in person, or send everything by mail or fax. If the hospital where you were treated is designated as a workers' comp medical institution, the hospital itself sometimes files the claim on your behalf with your consent — it's worth asking the admissions desk whether that's an option, since it saves time. The filing branch is, in principle, the one with jurisdiction over where the accident occurred; if you're not sure which branch that is, any branch will either accept the filing or point you to the right one. If your worksite is in a different region from company headquarters, just know that jurisdiction is based on the address where you actually worked, not the head office.

4. Employer Sign-Off Is Not Required

This is where a lot of people get it wrong. Employer confirmation or a company seal is not a mandatory requirement for filing a workers' comp claim. In the past, you needed the employer's signature on a confirmation section, but the system has since changed — now, even if the employer won't confirm the claim or refuses to cooperate, the worker can still submit the medical care benefit application directly. If a company balks at handling the claim and refuses to confirm it, KCOMWEL separately gathers the employer's input as part of investigating the facts and processes the application regardless. In other words, whether the company cooperates and whether the claim gets approved are, in principle, two separate questions. That said, the more evidence you gather yourself to support how the accident happened — statements, coworker testimony, work records — the faster the investigation tends to move, and it's worth knowing that never having signed a written employment contract doesn't affect your eligibility to file a workers' comp claim either, so don't let the company's reaction intimidate you.

5. How Long Approval Takes, and What to Prepare in the Meantime

KCOMWEL's stated principle is to decide whether to approve medical care benefits within 7 days of receiving the application and notify both the claimant and the employer. That 7-day window, however, doesn't include time spent on review by the Occupational Disease Adjudication Committee, investigations of the workplace or treating hospital, or any additional medical examinations that turn out to be necessary. So a straightforward accident with a clear cause tends to get decided relatively quickly, while a case involving an illness — where the link to work itself has to be established — can genuinely take longer. If medical bills are piling up while you wait, let the hospital know you're mid-process on a workers' comp claim, and if you want to know why a decision is taking a while, the most reliable move is to contact your assigned branch directly and ask for a status update. Once a caseworker is assigned, they'll often call to re-confirm how the accident happened, so it helps to jot down the details in advance so your account doesn't contradict what you wrote on the original form.

6. If You're Denied — From the Examination Request to the Re-Examination Request

If KCOMWEL denies medical care benefits, or decides something other than what you asked for, that isn't the end of the road. Within 90 days of the date you became aware of the decision, you can file an examination request (simsa cheonggu) through the KCOMWEL branch that made the decision. If you're still unsatisfied after the examination result, you can file a re-examination request with the Industrial Accident Compensation Insurance Re-examination Committee within another 90 days of being notified of the examination decision. Including additional diagnoses, medical opinions, or coworker statements that you weren't able to submit the first time around, when you file the examination request, tends to improve your odds of approval. If your employer tries to push you out unfairly while you're recovering, it's also worth checking when dismissal notice pay isn't owed.

7. If the Re-Examination Still Doesn't Work — Administrative Litigation

If you've gone through the re-examination request and still can't accept the outcome, the last step is filing an administrative lawsuit. At this stage, you're often dealing with both the facts and the legal arguments together, so many people bring in a certified labor attorney (nomusa) or lawyer for help. That said, most workers' comp cases get resolved at the examination-request stage once supplementary documents are submitted, so if you've been denied, the first move is to check what you might have missed at the examination-request stage rather than jumping straight to litigation.

Summary — The Sequence to Remember If This Is Your First Time

To recap: if you're injured, first get an initial medical opinion from a hospital, then fill out the medical care benefit application and file it — online, in person, or by mail — with the KCOMWEL branch that has jurisdiction over your workplace. Your claim proceeds even if the employer won't confirm it, and KCOMWEL's stated principle is to decide within 7 days. If you're denied, you have 90 days to request an examination, another 90 days after that to request a re-examination if needed, and administrative litigation as the final step. Remembering just that sequence should cut down on how disoriented you feel. This article is a general procedural guide; the diagnosis, processing time, and approval outcome for your specific case need to be confirmed with your KCOMWEL branch and treating physician. Separately from the injury itself, it's also worth keeping track of easy-to-miss pay issues like when weekly holiday pay is still owed even in your last week on the job.