Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport Conducts Safety Inspections at 22,000 Construction Sites

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 4th that it will inspect more than 22,000 construction sites nationwide this year. This is to prevent poor construction and to foster a safety culture at construction sites.

The Ministry, along with five regional land management offices, 12 public institutions including Korea Expressway Corporation and Korea Land and Housing Corporation, plans to conduct inspections during vulnerable periods such as thawing season, rainy season, and winter. Special inspections will be carried out at sites where fatal accidents have occurred. For sites valued under 5 billion KRW, which are considered relatively weak in safety management capabilities, the regional land management offices and the Land Safety Management Institute will form a dedicated task force (TF) to conduct year-round regular inspections.

On the 28th of last month, police, the National Forensic Service, the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency, the National Disaster Safety Research Institute, and the Korea Land and Housing Safety Management Institute conducted a joint inspection at the site of the bridge deck collapse accident during the construction of the Seoul-Sejong Expressway to determine the cause of the accident. Photo by Yonhap News Agency, Joint Coverage Team

Existing special joint inspections will also be strengthened. While monitoring the implementation status of recently announced fall accident prevention measures, supervisors, constructors, and inspectors will directly climb scaffolding (temporary structures) during site inspections to verify safety. Construction companies where fall accidents have occurred are required to conduct self-inspections of all their sites at the headquarters level and submit the results along with recurrence prevention plans. The Ministry will conduct special inspections at sites found to be lacking.

Previously, the government inspected 22,871 sites last year, identifying 48,772 issues and taking corrective actions. Kim Taebyeong, Director of Technical Safety Policy at the Ministry, stated, "This year, we plan to focus our capabilities on preventing fall accidents at construction sites to ensure construction safety and quality."

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