"Representing the Voices of Small and Medium Elevator Industry Facing Crisis"

Interview with Choi Kang-jin, Chairman of the Korea Elevator Industry Cooperative
Three Years Since the Amendment of the Elevator Safety Act, Failing to Prevent 'Safety Accidents' and Only Hindering the Industry
Need to Ease Elevator Safety Certification System... Will Lead the Restoration of the Industrial Ecosystem

Choikangjin, Chairman of the Korea Elevator Industry Cooperative Association. / Photo by Yoon Dongju doso7@

[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] The prolonged COVID-19 pandemic has reshaped the landscape of various industries. In particular, small and medium-sized elevator companies directly linked to the construction industry have been pushed to the brink of collapse over the past two years due to market slowdown and stringent certification issues. Choi Kangjin, Chairman of the Korea Elevator Industry Cooperative, emphasized, "The realization of a practical elevator safety certification system is essential to resolve the management difficulties faced by the industry caused by inspection periods and cost issues."

The Ministry of the Interior and Safety amended the Elevator Safety Management Act and introduced mandatory elevator certification in March 2019. As safety issues such as accidents involving elevator workers and passengers trapped inside elevators gained social attention, the government strengthened the system by enforcing model-specific certification. However, in the field, there have been ongoing criticisms that certification costs have increased, placing a heavier burden on small and medium-sized enterprises.

Chairman Choi stated, "The domestic elevator certification system mandates model certification based on the European EN standards. While large corporations find model certification relatively easy, the majority of small and medium-sized elevator companies, which produce fewer units per model, bear individual certification design review fees ranging from tens of millions to hundreds of millions of Korean won. Furthermore, while the European EN code mandates compulsory certification for six elevator components, domestically, 14 elevator components and six escalator components?a total of 20 components?are subject to mandatory certification, applying the strictest regulations in the world," he appealed.

Although government regulations have become stricter, the accident rate on site has rather increased. According to the Korea Elevator Safety Agency, elevator malfunctions, which averaged 2,000 to 3,000 cases annually until 2017, rose to 2,134 cases in 2018 and surged to 8,256 cases in 2019 after the law revision. In 2021, up to the third quarter, 16,996 cases were recorded, expected to mark an all-time high.

Elevator work site. Photo by Asia Economy DB

Elevator accidents also increased more than fourfold, from 21 cases in 2018 to 86 cases in 2020. Chairman Choi pointed out, "Although the Elevator Safety Act was revised to strengthen safety and stricter regulations than Europe were applied, the accident rate on site has increased. Rather than just imposing regulations, it is urgent to improve the system realistically by enhancing safety awareness."

Chairman Choi also highlighted that recent delays in elevator inspections due to fire door KC certification have exacerbated difficulties for small and medium-sized elevator companies. Since August last year, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport has enforced the ‘Standards for Recognition and Management of Fire Doors and Automatic Fire Shutters’ without any grace period. As the announcement and enforcement occurred simultaneously, demand for KC certification from companies surged at the Korea Institute of Civil Engineering and Building Technology, which took 3 to 6 months?exceeding the statutory processing period of 25 days?causing companies to miss scheduled construction and suffer damages. Chairman Choi said, "There is a need for alternatives, such as temporarily allowing elevator inspections even if the fire door KC certification has not yet been obtained."

Despite the harsh environment, efforts to restore the ecosystem at the cooperative level are underway. Chairman Choi said, "This year, we are establishing a foundation for each small and medium-sized company to produce the cooperative’s group standard products to improve quality. Since most small and medium-sized companies face difficulties with model certification, we are raising our voices for certification system improvement. We are also actively seeking realistic measures to address the increased manufacturing costs caused by the implementation of the 52-hour workweek, mandatory two-person work, and the Serious Accident Punishment Act, taking the lead in restoring the elevator industry ecosystem."

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