"Icheon Fire Incident, Holding Primary Contractor Accountable"… Ministry of Employment and Labor Conducts Special Inspection (Update)

Inspection of Accident Sites and Safety Management at Head Office and Construction Sites
Emergency Supervision Conducted at 340 Logistics and Refrigerated Warehouse Construction Sites Nationwide

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Bo-kyung]

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 6th that it will conduct a special inspection of the primary contractor to check the safety management status at the site of the fire accident at the Icheon logistics center new construction project.

This special inspection will be carried out for two weeks at the accident site, the headquarters of the primary contractor, and nationwide logistics and cold storage warehouse construction sites where the primary contractor is carrying out construction.

Since the Industrial Safety and Health Act, which significantly strengthens the responsibility of the primary contractor, has been enforced from this year, this inspection will focus on verifying the primary contractor's compliance with safety measures to prevent fire and explosion.

In particular, the headquarters of the primary contractor will be checked for the adequacy of safety management systems and on-site support, and construction sites under construction will be intensively supervised to ensure the primary contractor fulfills its safety and health obligations.

Additionally, to prevent similar fire and explosion accidents, emergency inspections will be simultaneously conducted for about 340 logistics and cold storage warehouse construction sites nationwide for five weeks starting from the 7th.

Construction sites where high fire and explosion risk work (with a progress rate of 50% or more) is underway will be inspected first within this month. For sites with less than 50% progress, the work progress will be monitored regularly, and inspections will be conducted when the progress reaches 50% or more.

For construction sites with fire and explosion risks other than logistics and cold storage warehouses, the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency will conduct inspections, and sites that fail to implement safety measures will be immediately supervised.

Any legal violations revealed by the inspections will be strictly dealt with, including judicial actions. Even after the inspections, the work status and safety management conditions will be regularly checked until the completion of construction to ensure compliance with safety rules.

Park Hwa-jin, Director of Labor Policy at the Ministry of Employment and Labor, stated, "We plan to hold companies that neglect workers' safety fully accountable."

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