Construction Equipment License Holders Must Receive Training Every 3 Years Going Forward

Published 07 Feb.2020 06:00(KST)

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport announced on the 7th that it has designated five organizations, including related associations and groups, as safety education institutions for construction machinery operators and will begin full-scale education to prevent construction machinery safety accidents.

Safety education for construction machinery operators was newly introduced during the revision of the Enforcement Rules of the Construction Machinery Management Act last October, following a series of construction machinery accidents such as tower crane overturns and collapses.

Holders of a total of 19 types of construction machinery licenses are required to receive education every three years. However, as a transitional measure, the first education must be completed by 2020 for those whose license was issued before 2009, by 2021 for those issued between 2010 and 2014, and by 2022 for those issued after 2015.

The education content includes the structure of construction machinery, work safety, and disaster prevention, and the courses are divided into two types: general construction machinery and handling machinery.

The five designated institutions are ▲ Construction Machinery Individual Business Operators Council ▲ Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency ▲ Korea Construction Safety Technology Society ▲ Korea Safety and Health Association ▲ Korea Crane Association (in alphabetical order). The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport received applications from a total of 16 non-profit corporations and organizations since last October, and after document and on-site inspections, finally designated these five institutions.

These institutions plan to accept course applications starting from the 12th and conduct the education. Detailed education schedules and application procedures for each institution are available on their respective websites or by phone.

The Ministry plans to monitor the demand for education, such as the status of education applications following the designation of these institutions, and expand the scale of designated education institutions to an appropriate level.

Park Jung-soo, Director of the Construction Industry Division at the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, said, “Serious construction machinery accidents, such as tower crane accidents, have not decreased. We plan to thoroughly manage and supervise the education institutions through satisfaction surveys, periodic inspections, and evaluations to ensure that safety education for construction machinery operators is implemented effectively to prevent accidents.”