April Safety Inspection Day, Examining Construction Sites Threatening Workers' Lives... Are Work Platforms and Safety Railings OK?

KOSHA, Ministry of Employment and Labor, and Seongnam City Joint Patrol for On-site Safety Inspection

Song Byeongchun, Executive Director of the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (front row left), Eun Su-mi, Mayor of Seongnam (front row center), and Jang Youngjo, Head of the Seongnam Branch of the Ministry of Employment and Labor (front row right), are conducting a safety inspection at the redevelopment and maintenance project site of Seongnam Sinheung 2 District on the 8th. [Image source=Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency]

[Asia Economy Yeongnam Reporting Headquarters Reporter Kim Yong-woo] How are the work platforms and safety railings? On the 8th, in observance of Safety Inspection Day, a joint safety inspection was conducted at new construction sites where risks such as falls are always present.

The Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency (KOSHA, President Park Doo-yong), together with the Ministry of Employment and Labor, local governments, and others, carried out a joint safety inspection at the GS Construction Seongnam Sinhung 2 District Redevelopment Project site to prevent industrial accidents.

Song Byung-chun, Managing Director of KOSHA, Eun Su-mi, Mayor of Seongnam City, Jang Young-jo, Head of the Ministry of Employment and Labor Seongnam Branch, and GS Construction’s Executive Director in charge of Safety and Health attended the inspection.

This site inspection, held in April for Safety Inspection Day, took place in Sujeong-gu, Seongnam City, which has the largest number of large-scale construction sites worth over 12 billion KRW in the eastern Gyeonggi region.

To prevent the most common fall accidents at construction sites, the inspection focused on checking work platforms and safety railings, as well as whether workers were wearing personal protective equipment such as safety helmets and harnesses.

KOSHA conducts unannounced ‘patrol site inspections’ to check safety at workplaces, aiming to prevent fall accidents in construction and entrapment accidents in manufacturing, which have a high risk of fatal accidents.

During patrol site inspections, which aim for over 70,000 nationwide this year, the focus is on compliance with the three major safety rules: prevention of fall and entrapment accidents, and provision and use of safety protective equipment.

KOSHA plans to repeatedly conduct unannounced inspections and management until workplace risk factors are improved.

Song Byung-chun, Managing Director of KOSHA, said, “To reduce fatal accidents, KOSHA will combine safety inspections with financial support for risk factor improvements. Above all, for safety to function on site, employers must create a safe environment, and workers must comply with safety rules; efforts from everyone are necessary.”