Local Heating Corporation Seriously Committed to Summer Flood and Wind Disaster Safety

Pre-inspection of Drainage at Heat Source Facilities and Construction Sites
Discovery of Social Contribution Projects Linked to Safety Enhancement

Korea District Heating Corporation will conduct pre-inspections to prevent flood damage during the concentrated heavy rains of the summer monsoon season and will engage in safety management.

On the 12th, under the direction of President Jeong Yong-gi, the corporation announced that it will carry out pre-inspections to prevent flood damage caused by clogged drainage channels and malfunctioning drainage equipment at all heat source facilities and construction sites across the company. The inspections include ▲checking and maintaining rainwater inlets and drainage channels for drainage obstacles ▲strengthening pre-monitoring activities in flood-prone areas ▲maintaining the availability of flood control equipment in preparation for flooding.

In addition, the corporation is promoting activities to practice ‘Safety Management,’ one of the four major management policies, in preparation for the upcoming summer heatwaves and wind and water disasters.

President Jeong Yong-gi, who took office on November 28 last year, expressed his commitment to strengthening field-centered safety management by inspecting the heat transport pipe construction site at the Bundang branch office and the heat production facility site at the Pangyo branch office on his inauguration day without holding a separate inauguration ceremony.

Immediately after taking office in December last year, to practice safety management, the safety officer visited 19 branch offices and field workplaces directly to listen to the difficulties and suggestions of on-site workers and to check whether the safety and health management system was functioning properly on-site, implementing an ‘Executive Field-Centered Safety Management Inspection.’

In January this year, to ensure stable heat supply in preparation for the cold wave, all executives visited business sites directly to check disaster management response readiness and the safety management status of work sites. They also conducted daily special safety inspections once per site and organized emergency standby teams to prepare for equipment failures, prioritizing safety management in winter facility management.

Furthermore, in April, as part of the ‘Korea’s Safety Great Transformation, Intensive Safety Inspection,’ a special safety inspection was conducted targeting exposed heat transport pipes on bridges within major branch offices. This special safety inspection was carried out in two phases: first, an urgent company-wide inspection and safety check of similar facilities were ordered, taking the collapse of the Jeongja Bridge in Bundang as a lesson; second, the president personally visited and inspected the exposed heat transport pipe sites on bridges and received reports on the results of prior inspections.

As a result, the condition of 10 exposed heat transport pipes on bridges across the company was checked using thermal imaging cameras and visual inspections to assess the support and joint conditions of the pipes, confirming that there were no abnormalities.

Through these efforts, the corporation was selected as an excellent institution in the Disaster Response Safety Korea Training by the Ministry of the Interior and Safety in December last year, and in April this year, it achieved the highest grade of 2nd grade (Safety-Cap4) for three consecutive years in the safety management grading system led by the Ministry of Economy and Finance, receiving high evaluations in external safety assessments.

In particular, this year, as part of field-centered problem-solving management, regular on-site inspections and communication activities are being conducted at all branch offices (business sites) to promote early overcoming of management crises and the activation of an innovative organizational culture. On the 6th, the Pyeongtaek branch office was visited to inspect the site and strengthen safety awareness through open discussions with employees.

Recently, reflecting the main contents of the ‘Serious Accident Reduction Roadmap’ announced by the Ministry of Employment and Labor in November last year, a two-day ‘Construction Work Risk Assessment Training for Construction Companies’ was conducted for site managers of heat source and heat transport pipe construction sites nationwide. To provide high-quality education, a specialized safety instructor was invited through collaboration with Seoul National University of Science and Technology. The practical training focused on risk assessment, where workers identify and improve risk factors themselves, building a ‘self-discipline prevention system’ to enhance understanding and strengthen capabilities in risk assessment.

Meanwhile, the corporation is also focusing on discovering social contribution projects linked to safety enhancement. Since 2020, it has developed the public interest senior job project ‘District Heating Safety Silver Keeper,’ which manages heat transport pipe safety together with the corporation by measuring road surface temperature and checking for heating water leaks in pedestrian areas difficult for vehicle access, creating a total of 180 senior jobs over three years. A corporation official stated, “Due to the high satisfaction of the elderly participants, from this year, with the cooperation of Gyeonggi Province, the project has been expanded and implemented as a nationally funded regular senior job project.”

President Jeong said, “Safety is the top priority value that cannot be exchanged for anything else, so we will continue to do our best in field-centered autonomous safety management,” and added, “We will make every effort to strengthen overall facility management in preparation for summer disasters such as wind and water damage, lightning strikes, and heatwaves.”

Jeong Yong-gi, President of Korea District Heating Corporation, visited the Pyeongtaek branch on the 6th to conduct an on-site inspection.

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