Reducing Traffic Accident and Construction Site Deaths... Suicide Prevention Also Fully Implemented

[Image source=Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Kangwook Cho] Three major projects to protect the lives of the people?traffic safety, industrial safety, and suicide prevention?aimed at creating a safe and convenient living environment for the public, will be implemented.

On the 16th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced this year’s major work plans containing these details during the 2021 work report held at the Blue House with President Moon Jae-in in attendance. In the report, the Ministry presented key policy tasks including ▲inclusive housing stability ▲balanced national development ▲innovation in the land and transportation industry ▲a safe and convenient living environment for the public.

Reducing Traffic Accident Deaths Below OECD Average

The Ministry set a goal to achieve traffic safety above the OECD average this year. The plan is to reduce the number of traffic accident deaths per 100,000 people from 6.0 last year to 4.8 this year, which is below the OECD average of 5.6. The number of traffic accident deaths in Korea has steadily decreased from 4,292 in 2016 to 3,781 in 2018, and 3,080 (provisional) last year.

To achieve this goal, tailored measures will be promoted for vulnerable factors such as pedestrians, freight vehicles, and personal mobility devices, including the full-scale implementation of the Safe Speed 5030 policy nationwide.

Reducing Construction Site Deaths by More Than 20% Compared to Last Year

Additionally, the number of deaths at construction sites, which account for half of all industrial accident fatalities, will be reduced by more than 20% compared to the previous year. Construction accident deaths decreased from 506 in 2017 to 485 in 2018 and 428 in 2019, but are estimated to have increased to 458 (provisional) last year.

The Ministry plans to strengthen on-site safety management by expanding site inspections (from 2,600 to 15,500) and reinforcing the construction machinery inspection system, while improving the ordering system to reflect accident occurrence in bid evaluations to encourage companies’ safety investments.

Full-Scale Suicide Prevention Efforts Including Identification and Support of At-Risk Households

At the same time, suicide prevention efforts, which have been neglected so far, will be fully implemented. Specialized designs that strengthen the social network of public housing will be introduced, and at-risk households will be identified and supported through the placement of housing welfare officers.

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