Preventing Retaining Wall Collapses... Ministry of Land to Conduct Special Inspections at 60 Sites Until Next Month

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 18th that it will conduct special inspections on 60 mechanically stabilized earth (MSE) retaining walls from May 18 to June 30.

As part of efforts to prevent a recurrence of last year's Osan retaining wall accident, a comprehensive inspection was carried out between March and April this year on 2,526 MSE retaining walls subject to management under the Facilities Safety Act. The survey found that 363 of these sites had an L-shaped retaining wall installed on top of the MSE retaining wall, similar to the structure involved in the accident.

Among them, facilities with high risk were selected for special inspection after a comprehensive evaluation of factors such as traces of water leakage, drainage sediment, drainage conditions, ground subsidence on the upper part, and deformation of the face wall. Additionally, 221 other general MSE retaining walls with risk factors, though different from the accident site, were identified, and local governments and supervisory agencies were instructed to inspect these as well.

Last July, due to heavy rain, the retaining wall of the overpass at Gajang Intersection in Osan, Gyeonggi Province, collapsed, causing two vehicles to be trapped. Provided by Gyeonggi Provincial Fire and Disaster Headquarters and Yonhap News Agency

A joint inspection team comprising personnel from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Korea Infrastructure Safety and Technology Corporation, local governments, facility managers, and private sector experts will conduct the inspections. If immediate safety measures are deemed necessary after on-site surveys, the facility managers will be promptly advised to carry out repairs, compensation, safety reviews, and other actions. For the 60 targeted sites, a system will be introduced to assign dedicated on-site experts to each facility, with support from the Korea Association of Facility Safety, to ensure continuous management.

These on-site experts will provide safety inspection and management consultation for the next three years, continuously monitoring for risk factors. Lee Seongmin, Director of Facility Safety at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stated, "The key is to proactively identify and thoroughly manage MSE retaining walls with vulnerable structures, and we will establish a meticulous safety management system."

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