Construction Sites Stop on Sundays: 'Sunday Construction Holiday System'

[Asia Economy Reporter Yoo In-ho] Construction sites will stop work on Sundays from now on.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 9th that starting from the 13th (Sunday), construction work at all public construction sites will be generally restricted on Sundays. This is expected to reduce noise from construction sites that wake people up on Sunday mornings and improve working conditions by allowing workers to spend time with their families on weekends.

The target includes a total of 20,093 sites of all construction sites ordered by the government, local governments, and public institutions.

Until now, construction sites have customarily operated without days off, and concerns have been continuously raised that accumulated worker fatigue and weakened site management and supervision on holidays make safety vulnerable. In fact, based on the 2017 work participation rate, serious construction accidents occurred 1.2 to 1.4 times more on weekends than on weekdays.

Accordingly, the introduction of a Sunday day-off system was discussed starting in July 2018. After a pilot project at 64 sites, mandatory implementation for all public construction sites was decided last June.

However, considering site conditions, exceptions have been made to ensure that Sunday work can proceed without disruption if absolutely necessary. Exceptions include urgent disaster recovery, prolonged construction delays due to the rainy season, and cases where continuous work such as tunnel excavation is safer.

From now on, sites requiring Sunday work must submit the reasons for implementation and safety management plans to obtain prior approval from the ordering agency before proceeding. In urgent cases such as disaster recovery, post-approval is also possible.

Lee Sang-joo, Director of Technical Safety Policy at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, “We hope that the implementation of the Sunday day-off system will establish a culture where worker safety and rest are prioritized at construction sites,” and added, “We will focus on improving working conditions in the construction industry, such as site safety, wage increases, and employment stability, to make it a preferred job for younger generations.”

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