Preventing Recurrence of Gangneung Pension Accident... Mandatory Installation of Carbon Monoxide Detectors in Lodging Facilities from August

Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy Announces Legislative Notice for Amendments to the Enforcement Decree and Enforcement Rules of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Act from May 1 to June 10

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[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Starting from August, gas boiler manufacturers will be required to include carbon monoxide (CO) alarms when selling gas boilers. Accordingly, newly installed gas boilers in accommodations, general residences, and other places must have the provided CO alarms installed upon purchase.

On the 30th, the Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy announced a 40-day legislative notice period from July 1 to August 10 for amendments to the Enforcement Decree and Enforcement Rules of the Safety Management and Business Act for Liquefied Petroleum Gas. The law was promulgated on February 4 and will take effect on August 5.

The Ministry prepared the amendments to prevent CO poisoning accidents. From 2015 to last year, including the Gangneung pension accident in December 2018, there have been 24 CO poisoning incidents over five years, resulting in 55 casualties?20 deaths and 35 injuries.

Going forward, accommodations, general residences, and other places newly installing gas boilers (city gas, LP gas) must install the CO alarms provided at the time of gas boiler purchase. Existing accommodations using gas boilers must separately install CO alarms within one year after the law takes effect.

The amendment to the Enforcement Decree sets detailed penalty criteria based on the number of violations, such as gas boiler manufacturers selling boilers without including CO alarms.

While the law stipulates fines up to 2 million KRW, the Enforcement Decree subdivides this into 1 million KRW for the first violation, 1.5 million KRW for the second, and 2 million KRW for the third and subsequent violations.

The amendment to the Enforcement Rules requires gas boiler manufacturers to provide CO alarms that have passed product inspections under the Fire Services Act. This ensures that only products with guaranteed quality and performance are installed.

The Enforcement Rules amendment also extends the replacement deadline for metal piping of LPG rubber hoses used in aging liquefied petroleum gas (LPG) homes from the end of this year to 2030.

Previously, since 1996, regulations required installation of metal piping from LPG containers to gas stove valves, and facilities installed before 1996 had a deadline for improvement set for this year.

For 750,000 low-income households, including basic livelihood security recipients, with rubber hose facilities installed before 1996, the government and local authorities plan to complete facility improvements free of charge through support programs.

For the estimated 450,000 households that have not yet improved their facilities, excluding those switching to city gas, the government plans to encourage early replacement of metal piping through government support and partial self-payment in consultation with financial authorities.

The amendments to the Enforcement Decree and Enforcement Rules of the Liquefied Petroleum Gas Act will be implemented from August 5 after collecting various opinions and coordinating with related agencies during the legislative notice period.

The Ministry of Trade, Industry and Energy plans to establish a related task force (TF) at the Korea Gas Safety Corporation to ensure smooth implementation of the system, including public awareness campaigns and strengthening pre-education for boiler installers.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.