Ministry of Employment, Winter Construction Site Safety Supervision... "Representatives Must Directly Address Deficiencies"

Supervision of High-Risk Sites Including Concrete Maintenance Work Suffocation Incidents

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok]

#On the 4th, at an apartment construction site in Daegu, after finishing concrete pouring, carbon monoxide was generated from the burning of coal briquettes in a stove used for curing (protection management), injuring four workers. In January 2019, two workers died in a similar accident at a new apartment construction site in Siheung, Gyeonggi Province.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 8th that it will implement winter safety management supervision. Winter is a vulnerable period for fatal accidents at construction sites. Suffocation, falls, and fire accidents mainly occur.

The Ministry plans to first distribute self-inspection checklists and the "Winter Construction Site Safety and Health Guide" to encourage reducing risk factors at sites. Construction sites with a project amount of 12 billion KRW or more are required to write improvement results (plans) on the self-inspection checklist.

Large-scale construction sites will be intensively supervised for winter accidents such as suffocation and major disasters like fire and explosions. Small and medium sites will be inspected for inadequate safety measures on temporary structures such as scaffolding and non-compliance with hazardous risk prevention plans. In 2019, among 292 fatal accident victims, 162 (55.5%) died while working using temporary structures.

In particular, the supervision checklist mandates obtaining the signature or seal of the CEO. This is to encourage the CEO to directly check the safety and health management system. Kim Gyuseok, Director of Industrial Accident Prevention Supervision Policy at the Ministry, said, "Through this supervision, the CEOs of each construction company must directly check whether there are any shortcomings in protecting workers," and emphasized, "For securing safety at construction sites, cooperation with subcontractors, worker participation, and establishing an effective evaluation system are essential."

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