Seoul City to Provide 'Safety Allowance' to Construction Workers Unable to Work Due to Cold Waves and Heatwaves

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Starting this month, daily construction workers employed at construction sites commissioned by the Seoul Metropolitan Government will be able to receive a safety allowance that compensates their income if they are unable to work due to extreme weather conditions such as cold waves, heavy snowfall, or heatwaves.

According to the city on the 2nd, the safety allowance compensates up to 4 hours of daily income within the Seoul living wage (2,461,811 KRW annually as of this year). It targets low-income domestic workers whose income is below the Seoul living wage and who have worked at least 8 days per month at public construction sites with a project budget of 50 million KRW or more.

For example, a worker earning 170,000 KRW per day at a public construction site who works 12 days but experiences 5 days of work stoppage due to extreme weather will receive a monthly income of 2.04 million KRW plus a safety allowance of 420,000 KRW for up to 4 hours per day, totaling 2.46 million KRW. Benefits apply when there is a work stoppage order from the construction supervisor (inspector) due to extreme weather conditions such as heatwaves, rain, cold waves, heavy snowfall, or fine dust. The allowance is initially paid by the construction company to the worker each month and later reimbursed by the city.

However, support is only available if the construction site complies with the following: use of the Seoul construction daily worker standard contract, installation of terminals and issuance of electronic cards according to the electronic card system, and use of the Seoul Construction Information Management System (One-PMIS).

Recently, the construction industry has been facing a shortage of work for daily construction workers due to the downturn in the construction market. The construction sector has been depressed by factors such as high exchange rates and high interest rates, resulting in a loss of 48,000 construction jobs in the first quarter of last year, negatively impacting the livelihoods of ordinary citizens. Furthermore, the normalization of abnormal weather has increased work stoppage periods regardless of workers’ willingness to work.

The city expects that about 2,000 workers earning below the living wage will benefit annually from the safety allowance, which is the only policy in Korea protecting vulnerable construction workers. The plan is to provide a stable working environment to secure the livelihood of low-income workers and to lead improvements in the construction industry’s structure through enhanced work efficiency, safety, and quality by fostering skilled workers.

Kim Seung-won, Director of Construction Technology Policy at Seoul City, stated, "Non-regular daily construction workers, the most vulnerable group working on site, inevitably suffer the most from the recent normalization of rapidly changing abnormal weather. We will continue to accompany these vulnerable workers to ensure that their income is guaranteed and that construction jobs can be recognized as a foundation of the construction industry, with workers actively willing to work on the front lines."

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