On March 26, a tower crane collapsed at a public housing construction site in the Gosan district of Uijeongbu, Gyeonggi Province, seriously injuring a crane operator in his 60s. The photo shows the tower crane accident site. [Image source=Yonhap News]
[Asia Economy Reporter Moon Jiwon] Although import and sales companies submitted corrective action plans and type approval documents for 120 tower cranes deregistered in February due to safety issues and 249 tower cranes subject to recall, the government rejected them.
On the 16th, the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's Construction Machinery Defect Review Committee held a meeting and reviewed the corrective action plans and type approval documents for these tower cranes. On the 20th, it announced that it judged additional supplementation was necessary and therefore rejected the submissions.
Focusing on the fact that 70.2% of recent tower crane accidents occurred with small (remote-controlled) tower cranes, the Ministry conducted a special inspection of small tower cranes from February to July last year. Through this, 12 models suspected of defects were selected for a manufacturing defect investigation.
As a result, defects were found in all 12 models (369 units). Accordingly, after confirming the defects through the review committee in February, the government deregistered 120 units of 3 models with serious defects and issued recall (corrective action) orders for 249 units of 9 models with relatively minor defects.
The companies that imported and sold these models submitted some of the corrective action plans and type approval documents for the 12 models, but the review committee ultimately decided to reject them.
The review committee explained that fairness was ensured by hearing opinions not only from evaluation members composed of academic societies, civic groups, and legal experts but also from professional institutions such as the Construction Machinery Safety Management Institute and private inspection agencies, as well as owners and importers.
The committee members empathize with the economic losses of owners and importers and the impact on construction sites caused by the suspension of tower crane use in operation, but they hold the position that equipment whose safety has not been sufficiently verified cannot be allowed to continue being used on site.
As a result of this review, the 120 deregistered units will be suspended from on-site use. The 249 units subject to recall can continue to be used on site, but recall measures will continue to be enforced.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport plans to continuously recommend that all construction businesses refrain from using recalled equipment to prevent accidents and urge importers and sellers to submit specific supplementation plans.
Kim Kwangrim, Director of the Construction Industry Division at the Ministry, said, "The Ministry will continue to strictly respond to acts that undermine the safety of construction sites and construction machinery," adding, "We plan to continuously strengthen safety management not only for small but also for general tower cranes."
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