Mandatory Installation of 'Simple Sprinklers' in Gosiwon and Postpartum Care Centers Opened Before 2009

Enhanced Fire Safety Standards Applied to Commercial Power and Communication Ducts

[Asia Economy Reporter Jo In-kyung] Simple sprinkler installation will be mandatory in gosiwon and postpartum care centers that have been operating since before 2009. Enhanced fire safety standards will be retroactively applied to facilities that cause social problems during fires, such as business-use power and communication ducts.

The Fire Agency announced on the 8th that the amendments to the "Fire Prevention, Installation and Maintenance of Fire Facilities, and Safety Management Act (Fire Facilities Act)" and the "Special Act on Safety Management of Multi-use Facilities (Multi-use Facilities Act)" containing these provisions were promulgated on the 9th and will be enforced from December 10.

The amendment first requires gosiwon and postpartum care centers to mandatorily install simple sprinklers by June 30, 2022, regardless of the business start date or changes in safety facilities at the business site. Previously, sprinklers only had to be installed if the business started after July 8, 2009, or if there were changes in the internal structure, interior decorations, safety facilities, or business owner.

However, after the fire at Gukil Gosiwon in Jongno, Seoul, in November 2018, which resulted in 18 casualties (7 deaths and 11 injuries), the need to strengthen fire safety for lodging-type multi-use facilities was raised, leading to the revision of related laws.

Due to retroactive application, about 1,000 business sites obligated to install sprinklers will have a basis to receive partial installation cost support from the national and local governments, with a total project budget of 24.2 billion KRW being invested.

Fire safety facilities for business-use power and communication ducts will also be strengthened and applied retroactively. This measure follows the large-scale communication outage caused by the fire in the underground communication duct of KT Ahyeon branch in December 2018, which paralyzed communication and financial services simultaneously, raising opinions that strengthened fire safety facilities for business-use power and communication ducts should also apply to existing facilities.

Accordingly, those responsible for business-use power and communication ducts installed before the enforcement of the amended law must install fire safety facilities according to the enforcement decree and fire safety standards by December 9, 2022 (within two years from the enforcement date).

Fire Prevention Division Chief Bae Deok-gon of the Fire Agency said, "We will continue to review measures to strengthen fire safety facilities according to importance, regardless of area, for facilities with high risk of casualties or large social damage in case of fire."