Seoul City Mandates 'Safety Training' for Small and Medium Construction Sites... Completion Required Before Groundbreaking

Contractors, Supervisors, and Building Owners Must Complete Safety Training and Submit Certificates Before Construction Start

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Hyemin] From now on, all construction site personnel in Seoul must undergo safety training before starting construction.

Seoul City announced on the 10th that it will expand the mandatory pre-construction safety training, which was previously implemented in some autonomous districts, to all 25 autonomous districts starting this month. Accordingly, construction contractors (site managers), construction supervisors (assigned supervisors), building owners, and other construction-related personnel must submit a safety training completion certificate to the autonomous district office, which is the permitting authority, when reporting the start of construction.

This is part of the "Strengthening Safety Management Measures for Small and Medium-sized Private Construction Sites." While Seoul City had safety management regulations for large construction sites over 1㎡, there were concerns about safety blind spots at small and medium-sized sites. In response, Seoul developed safety management measures with improved on-site applicability. Seoul City explained, "This measure aims to improve the safety awareness of construction-related personnel and promote on-site autonomous safety."

In fact, insufficient knowledge of safety management rules by site managers and workers' carelessness have been identified as major causes of accidents at construction sites. According to a survey conducted last year by Seoul City among 146 advisory committee members of the Construction Safety Advisory Group, 51% of respondents cited safety training as a top priority.

The safety training consists of ▲ major accident overviews and punishment cases ▲ accident occurrence statistics ▲ major complaints related to construction work ▲ construction safety laws and safety facility installation standards ▲ accident prevention measures during hazardous tasks such as temporary structures, demolition, and welding. The training will be conducted online in accordance with social distancing and quarantine guidelines.

Kim Seongbo, Head of the Housing and Architecture Headquarters of Seoul City, said, "Through this training, we expect construction-related personnel to raise their safety awareness, become more vigilant, and actively work to prevent accidents. We will continue thorough on-site monitoring and ongoing safety training to proactively prevent safety accidents."

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