Safety Inspections at 472 Locations Including Seoul Traditional Markets and Aging Residential Areas Ahead of Chuseok

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] The Seoul Metropolitan Government will conduct safety inspections by the 17th on multi-use facilities such as traditional markets and passenger terminals, where citizen usage is expected to surge during the upcoming Chuseok holiday, as well as on D and E grade safety-vulnerable facilities.

The inspection targets include a total of 472 locations: 350 multi-use facilities such as 185 traditional markets, 160 large-scale stores, and 5 comprehensive passenger terminals, along with 122 safety-vulnerable facilities (D and E grade).

Since traditional markets and large-scale stores mostly use LPG for cooking, making them structurally vulnerable to fire, the inspections will focus intensively on electrical and gas safety. Passenger terminals, where many people gather at once to use holiday buses, could lead to large-scale casualties in case of an accident, so fire-fighting facilities and evacuation routes will be checked.

Inspections will also cover 122 D and E grade safety-vulnerable facilities. Priority will be given to aging residential areas, and any places requiring repairs will be promptly addressed before Chuseok. For severely aged or dangerous facilities, measures such as detailed safety diagnoses, facility usage bans, evacuation orders, and fines will be implemented to prevent damage in advance.

The inspections will be conducted by joint inspection teams composed of the Seoul Metropolitan Government, autonomous districts, and external experts, checking architecture, electricity, gas, and fire safety. They will verify cracks or leaks in major structural parts of buildings, the operational status of fire-fighting equipment, proper functioning of gas detectors, building safety management practices, whether disaster response drills have been conducted, posting of evacuation maps, and unauthorized placement of objects in emergency stairs or corridors.

Han Je-hyun, Director General of Safety at the Seoul Metropolitan Government, said, "Although interregional movement will be minimized this holiday due to the novel coronavirus disease (COVID-19), we will prevent accidents through prior inspections of hazardous facilities and ensure citizens can have a safe holiday."

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