Incheon Airport with 200,000 Daily Passengers on High Alert over Serious Accident Punishment Act

Busy Ahead of Law Enforcement in About a Month
Burden of Construction at Terminal 2 Passenger Terminal
37 Industrial Accident Cases Last Year
Safety and Health Consulting to Begin Next Month

On the 13th, overseas arrivals were waiting for transportation guidance at the arrival hall of Terminal 2, Incheon International Airport. The Korea Disease Control and Prevention Agency Central Disease Control Headquarters announced that as of midnight, the cumulative number of confirmed cases in the country increased by 1,990 to 220,182. There were 1,913 domestic confirmed cases and 77 imported confirmed cases. Photo by Moon Honam munonam@

With the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act just over a month away on January 27 next year, Incheon International Airport Corporation is on high alert for safety accident preparedness. The corporation is now responsible not only for industrial accidents involving workers within the airport but also for incidents and accidents involving the approximately 200,000 daily passengers before the COVID-19 pandemic. In particular, with the large-scale workforce deployment inevitable for the full-scale Phase 4 construction project, including the expansion of Incheon Airport’s Terminal 2 next year, the corporation is putting all efforts into establishing measures to prevent safety accidents.

According to Incheon Airport Corporation on the 20th, the corporation plans to begin a consulting project titled ‘Diagnosis of Incheon Airport Safety and Health Management System and Response Strategy’ in early next month. The goal is to analyze related laws and enforcement ordinances ahead of the Serious Accident Punishment Act enforcement and prepare comprehensive countermeasures at the corporate level.

Unlike the existing Industrial Safety and Health Act, the Serious Accident Punishment Act stipulates that if a fatal accident occurs at an industrial site with 50 or more employees, the business owner and the CEO can be sentenced to imprisonment for more than one year or fined up to 1 billion KRW.

What worries Incheon Airport Corporation ahead of the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act is the steady occurrence of industrial accidents, including fatal accidents, within the airport every year. According to the corporation’s compiled ‘Incheon Airport Industrial Accident Status for the Last 3 Years (2019 to November 2021),’ there were a total of 37 accidents this year, including 25 cases involving subsidiaries and partner companies and 12 cases in construction work, marking a 27.5% increase compared to 29 cases in 2019.

According to last year’s ‘Safety Management Grade Evaluation Report’ by Incheon Airport Corporation, the corporation received an E grade in the ‘Fatal Accident Occurrence and Reduction Performance’ category, the only category scored in the 60s. In the actual evaluation, the corporation received a grade 2 in both the ‘Safety Capability’ category, which includes establishing a basic safety plan, and the ‘Safety Level’ category, which covers risk prevention of mechanical equipment and fall prevention, but remained at an overall grade 5 in the ‘Safety Performance’ category, which includes fatal accidents.

Currently, about 1,500 workers are deployed daily in the Phase 4 construction project at Incheon Airport. Experts analyze that if the workforce increases to as many as 2,500 next year, the likelihood of worker accidents will rise, posing a significant burden on the corporation’s management.

Preparing for passenger safety accidents occurring within the airport is also a burden. Incheon Airport Corporation stated that while 1 to 2 safety incidents such as suicides occur annually at the airport, there are practical limitations in preventing accidents caused by unspecified large groups, and considerable time and effort are required to clarify responsibility after the fact.

Joo Kyun, head of the Construction Project Division at Incheon Airport Corporation, said, "Although there is a burden in simultaneously carrying out large-scale construction involving multi-process machinery and communications ahead of the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act next year, we will focus on the safety accidents of on-site workers and make every effort to prevent accidents."

Aerial View of Incheon International Airport Terminal 2 Passenger Building

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