"This is why Sunsal Apartment incidents happen... Severe shortage of LH construction site supervisors"

8 out of 10 Sites Lack Supervisory Staff
Only 61.6% of Mandatory Personnel Filled
19 Safety Incidents Occurred at 14 Sites

Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) has been found to have fewer than the legally required number of supervisors at 8 out of 10 housing construction sites it self-inspected.

Korea Land and Housing Corporation (LH) was found to have fewer than the legally required number of supervisors at 8 out of 10 housing construction sites it self-inspected. The photo shows the underground parking lot of Namyangju Byeollae A25 complex.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On the 16th, Jang Cheol-min, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee from the Democratic Party of Korea, analyzed data received from LH and found that among 104 construction sites self-inspected by LH from January to July, 85 sites (81.7%) did not meet the legally mandated staffing levels.

In particular, among 15 apartment complexes where 'rebar omission' was first confirmed in underground parking lots, 7 sites where LH conducted self-supervision were found to have fewer supervisors than the appropriate number.

According to the Construction Technology Promotion Act, the ordering agency must appoint construction supervisors responsible for quality inspection and site safety, with the appropriate number of supervisors varying according to their supervisory rank.

The total number of supervisors required at the 104 LH self-inspected sites was 920, but only 566 were actually deployed on site, fulfilling just 61.6% of the mandatory staffing.

For example, at the Siheung Janghyeon A-9 Block apartment construction site Section 12, which builds about 530 households, the appropriate number of supervisors was 18.90, but only 4.25 were assigned, less than a quarter of the required personnel. Similarly, at the Namyangju Byeollae A1-1 Block apartment construction site Section 17, only 12.90 supervisors were assigned, just over half of the appropriate number (22.10).

Among the construction sites with insufficient supervisors were seven complexes with rebar omissions announced by LH at the end of July, including Suseo Station Area A3, Suwon Dangsu A3, Gwangju Seonun 2A, Yangsan Sasong A2, Incheon Gajeong 2, Osan Segyo 2, and Paju Unjeong 3.

Suseo Station Area A3 deployed only 7.20 supervisors, 2 fewer than the required 9.40. Suwon Dangsu A3 had 4.94 supervisors (required 8.30), Gwangju Seonun A had 5.26 (8.90), Yangsan Sasong A2 had 5.28 (9.10), Incheon Gajeong 2 had 3.61 (11.58), Osan Segyo 2 had 8.53 (12.80), and Paju Unjeong 3 had 10.16 (15.90) supervisors assigned respectively.

This led to poor construction and safety accidents. Among the 104 sites, 5 sites were found to have poor construction through self-supervision, resulting in penalty points for 14 construction companies. Additionally, 19 safety accidents occurred across 14 sites.

Notably, no poor construction was detected before the full inspection at the complexes where rebar was omitted, indicating that self-supervision was not properly conducted.

Assemblyman Jang Cheol-min stated, "Most of the construction sites supervised by LH are in a very serious situation where even the appropriate number of supervisors is not met," and pointed out, "This poor construction incident ultimately reveals comprehensive failures not only in design and construction but also at the supervision stage."

He added, "Fundamental institutional improvements and strengthened accountability measures that meet standards at each construction stage, including enhancing the effectiveness of supervision, must follow."

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