Eight of Ten Construction Industry Occupational Death Causes Cited This Year Are 'Falls'

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Safety and Health Agency Patrol On-site Inspection Team Construction Site Safety Inspection. (Photo by Safety and Health Agency)

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Among the ten issues pointed out during the unannounced inspections of fatal industrial accidents in the construction industry, eight were related to falls. In the manufacturing industry, more than three out of ten were related to entrapment. Falls and entrapment are areas included in the three major safety measures emphasized by policy authorities, yet accidents have repeatedly occurred. This is also a part that is criticized as a typical backward industrial accident fatality.

According to the safety hazard points of fatal accidents from January to April this year announced by the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency on the 23rd, 14,664 cases, or 82.8% of 17,700 hazard factors in the construction industry, were fall hazard factors such as missing safety railings and work platforms. In the case of 8,102 hazard factors in the manufacturing industry, 2,942 cases, or 36.3%, were entrapment hazard factors. Many cases involved the lack of protective covers on dangerous equipment such as conveyors and presses.

Meanwhile, the agency reported that it had corrected 25,802 fatal accident hazard factors by last month. It requested the Ministry of Employment and Labor to supervise 917 sites that refused inspections or failed to implement improvements. Some workplaces stopped hazardous work and took judicial action against violations. The agency plans to continue conducting patrol site inspections. Patrol inspections are a system that focuses on whether the three major safety measures?'prevention of fall and entrapment hazards and wearing of essential safety protective gear'?are properly followed. This year, the number of inspections will be increased from 60,000 to 70,000, and the number of patrol vehicles assigned to frontline agencies will be increased from 108 to 404.

Park Duyong, the agency’s director, said, "To reduce fatal accidents at workplaces, core hazard factors such as falls in construction sites and entrapment in manufacturing must be improved," adding, "The agency will focus all its capabilities on protecting workers' lives by strengthening patrol site inspections."

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