"Accountability for Serious Accidents" Public Procurement Service Tightens Safety Controls at Construction Sites

The principle of strict rewards and penalties based on the occurrence of serious accidents in the public construction sector will be strengthened. During the bidding and selection process at the ordering stage, companies that have experienced serious accidents will receive penalty points, while companies with outstanding safety management will receive bonus points. This means that the construction safety evaluation will have a real impact on the selection of contractors, thereby tightening the prevention and management of safety accidents at construction sites.

On September 18, the Public Procurement Service announced the implementation of the "Safety Enhancement Measures for Serious Accidents in Public Construction Projects."

The safety enhancement measures are divided into four stages: ordering, design, construction, and post-management, with different strategies for each stage.

Kwon Hyukjae, Director of the Facility Project Bureau at the Public Procurement Service, is briefing on the "Safety Enhancement Measures to Reduce Serious Accidents at Construction Sites" at the Government Daejeon Complex on the 18th. Photo by Public Procurement Service

First, at the ordering stage, the evaluation of construction safety in the bidding and selection process for public projects will be strengthened. Key measures include converting the construction safety evaluation items in the comprehensive evaluation and PQ (pre-qualification) assessments-such as the accident fatality rate (the number of fatalities per 10,000 workers), records of industrial accident prevention activities, and the number of violations in industrial accident reporting-from a bonus point system to a scoring system, thereby increasing the effectiveness of safety evaluations.

Previously, in the evaluation of social responsibility and credibility, companies with poor safety records could offset penalty points with bonus points from other categories, resulting in limited disadvantages. However, with the transition to a scoring system, companies with poor safety records will find it more difficult to win contracts, according to the Public Procurement Service.

The agency will introduce new penalty points for "serious accidents" in the qualification review, comprehensive evaluation, and PQ assessments, applying differentiated penalties based on the severity of the accident. Companies involved in major accidents resulting in multiple fatalities will be effectively excluded from contract awards, while incentives for companies with excellent safety records will be strengthened.

The safety enhancement measures also expand the application of penalty points for accident fatality rates, previously applied only to general and specialized construction projects worth 5 billion won (approximately 3.7 million dollars) or more, to projects under 5 billion won and to electrical and information and communication works.

At the design stage, the focus will be on establishing a "Safety and Quality Management Expert Committee" and strengthening safety and quality during the design phase. The committee will ensure that safety experts participate in the customized service design process, thoroughly reviewing safety plans and costs so that all safety requirements are reflected without omission. It will also work to prevent major design errors such as inconsistencies in design documents, structural calculation mistakes, and omissions in quantities.

To prevent poor construction resulting from excessive schedule compression, the Public Procurement Service will expand its construction period review services to ensure appropriate construction periods are secured. Additionally, the agency will establish data-driven "construction period review standards" based on investigations of actual completion periods. These measures are also part of the safety enhancement plan.

Provided by Public Procurement Service

During the construction phase, the Public Procurement Service will expand the scope of regular safety inspections-currently focused on heavy equipment and temporary structures-to cover the entire major construction process, including checking concrete strength, rebar placement, and component displacement. The agency also plans to introduce AI-based smart safety equipment, such as intelligent video analysis devices and time-lapse cameras, to establish a system for preventing safety accidents.

In the post-management phase, sanctions such as restrictions on bidding participation will be expanded for companies involved in serious accidents. The core idea is to strictly limit public bidding participation for companies where serious accidents occur, despite the series of strengthened safety management measures from ordering to construction.

Currently, restrictions on public bidding participation are imposed only when "two or more workers die simultaneously" in accordance with the Occupational Safety and Health Act. However, moving forward, the criteria will be expanded to include cases where "multiple fatalities occur in a year," and the restriction period will also be extended, according to the Public Procurement Service.

The safety enhancement measures will be finalized after consultations with related ministries and gathering feedback from stakeholders, with the aim of improving the effectiveness of accident eradication and prevention. The revised measures are scheduled to take effect in the second half of this year.

Baek Seungbo, Commissioner of the Public Procurement Service, stated, "Safety at construction sites is the highest priority, directly linked to the lives of the people. The Public Procurement Service will strive to induce a voluntary shift in safety awareness among construction companies and ensure the thorough implementation of the safety enhancement measures, so that the entire process of public construction-from ordering and design to construction and post-management-can take place in a safer environment."

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