Reduce Construction Industry Accident Deaths by Half

[Asia Economy Reporter Lee Chun-hee] As fatalities from construction site accidents, including large tower crane overturns, continue to occur, the government has announced safety measures with the goal of halving the number of deaths in the construction industry.

The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport (MOLIT) jointly announced the "Construction Safety Innovation Plan" with related ministries on the 23rd through the Government Policy Coordination Meeting chaired by the Prime Minister to further reduce accidents at construction sites.

Through this plan, MOLIT set a target to reduce the number of construction industry accident fatalities from 506 in 2017 to around 250 by 2022, which is about half. To achieve this, the plan consists of 24 detailed tasks across three major areas.

Last year, the number of construction accident fatalities was 428, a decrease of 57 (11.8%) compared to the previous year, but most of the reduction was concentrated in public construction projects, with minimal decrease in fatalities in private projects. Additionally, about half of the fatalities, 235 deaths, occurred in small-scale private projects valued at 5 billion KRW or less. In response, the government is actively rolling up its sleeves to achieve the fatality reduction goal by significantly strengthening accident responsibility for project owners and construction company executives, who had previously been excluded from accountability discussions, and improving the safety system.

Accordingly, the plan includes extensive improvements based on the principle of establishing a balance of authority and responsibility among construction stakeholders such as project owners, contractors, and supervisors, guaranteeing appropriate costs, and strengthening rewards and punishments.

First, in the focused management of vulnerable areas, safety for machinery and equipment work, where major accidents continue to occur?such as the pump car overturning at a construction site in Busan on the 21st resulting in one death?will be enhanced. In particular, to monitor the entire process of tower crane operations, regular safety inspections by external inspection agencies will be required whenever the crane is installed, raised, or dismantled. Previously, inspections were only required twice without specific timing; now, regular inspections will be mandated. However, to prevent unnecessary paperwork and cost increases, inspection reports only need to be submitted twice: just before installation and after dismantling is completed.

Jung Yong-sik, Director of the MOLIT Technical Safety Policy Division, explained, "Safety inspections will be conducted during installation and dismantling, and also during raising if the height exceeds 10 meters. For example, in a 30-story building project, raising occurs 7 to 8 times. Since installation, raising, and dismantling are the most dangerous times, the strengthened measures aim to conduct frequent regular inspections."

Safety equipment will also be strengthened for machinery and equipment that cause many fatalities. Especially for public construction projects, work will only be allowed on machinery and equipment equipped with enhanced safety features such as collision prevention smart safety devices and pinch prevention covers. Additionally, dedicated guides will be assigned for equipment that frequently enters and exits the site, such as ready-mix concrete trucks and dump trucks. All costs related to these worksite safety attendants will be included in safety management fees and paid as part of the construction costs, making the project owner responsible for these expenses.

The responsibility of contractors will also be significantly strengthened. When a major construction accident occurs and an accident investigation committee investigates the cause, contractors will be required to comply with the investigation results to enhance enforcement of sanctions. Furthermore, the penalty point system, which is currently operated at an average zero level and criticized as ineffective, will be changed to an aggregate system with an introduced review process to improve the effectiveness of penalties against poor-performing companies.

Fines will also be made more realistic. Director Jung said, "Since business suspension can cause significant damage, fines are imposed, but the damage caused by fines to companies is not proportional. We plan to adjust the upper limit and impose fines for major accidents differently according to company size, pursuing reasonable improvements through research projects."

Along with this, supervision during construction will be greatly strengthened. The current criteria for deploying resident supervisors, which is "5 floors and 3,000㎡ or more," will be expanded to "2 floors and 2,000㎡ or more" starting this November. Also, public construction projects will be required to assign at least one dedicated safety supervisor regardless of size. For private apartment construction sites where high-risk construction companies with one or more penalty points participate, dedicated personnel will also be assigned.

Moreover, the installation of Building Safety Centers will be expanded to allow local governments to directly monitor safety management at construction sites. Currently, except for Seoul and Sejong, these centers have not yet been established, but by the end of this year, the government plans to mandate the installation of regional building safety centers in 17 metropolitan local governments and 16 large cities with populations over 500,000.

Kim Hyun-mi, Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, stated, "We will do our utmost to make construction sites safer workplaces through this innovation plan," and added, "For the measures to be implemented on site, active participation from the construction industry, including contractors and supervisors, as well as site workers, is essential."