Despite 8 Nationwide On-Site Inspections... Safety Rule Violations in Small-Scale Construction and Manufacturing Increase

Inspection of Compliance with 3 Major Safety Measures for Construction Businesses Under 1 Billion Won and Manufacturing Businesses with Fewer Than 10 Employees

[Sejong=Asia Economy Reporter Moon Chaeseok] Although the government conducted inspections at over 20,000 workplaces nationwide over four months, the number of safety violations related to fall accidents in small-scale construction and entrapment accidents in manufacturing actually increased. However, violations in manufacturing and other sectors with 50 or more employees, which are subject to the Serious Accidents Punishment Act, sharply decreased.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor announced on the 23rd the results of eight rounds of the "Three Major Safety Measures On-Site Inspection Days" conducted from July to October. The three major safety measures are the most basic industrial accident prevention rules, which include establishing fall and entrapment accident prevention guidelines and requiring the use of personal protective equipment. During this period, the ministry inspected 20,487 workplaces and identified 13,202 sites (64.4%) that violated fall and entrapment accident prevention rules, subsequently ordering corrective actions.

Basic safety measures such as the installation of safety railings in construction and protective measures like covers and fences in manufacturing were still not being observed. Among the 14,567 construction sites inspected, 9,923 (68.1%) violated basic rules, and among the 5,387 manufacturing sites inspected, 3,006 (55.8%) did so. Violations of personal protective equipment use in construction amounted to 8,301 cases, accounting for 28.6% of the total 29,032 violations. Regarding violations, fall hazards in construction were most frequently due to missing safety railings (41.2%), missing work platforms (15.9%), and missing covers for openings (6.1%). Entrapment hazards in manufacturing were primarily due to missing protective measures such as covers and fences (24.3%), inadequate forklift safety measures (14.2%), and failure to conduct protective device certification inspections (14.1%).

The problem is that the violation rate of the three major safety measures increased in small-scale workplaces, such as construction sites with project amounts under 1 billion KRW and manufacturing sites with fewer than 10 workers, as inspections progressed. Comparing violation rates from July-August to September-October, the rate for projects under 300 million KRW rose from 64.2% to 70.2%, an increase of 6 percentage points (p), and for projects between 300 million KRW and 1 billion KRW, it rose from 72.2% to 74.3%, an increase of 2.1%p. In contrast, waste disposal businesses subject to the Serious Accidents Punishment Act saw a decrease from 69% to 47.1%, a drop of 21.9%p, and manufacturing sites with 50 or more employees dropped from 49% to 17.7%, a decrease of 31.3%p.

Kwon Gisub, head of the Occupational Safety and Health Headquarters, stated, "As a result of operating the eight rounds of 'On-Site Inspection Days,' the three major safety measures are still not being observed at small-scale construction sites under 1 billion KRW and manufacturing sites with fewer than 10 workers." He added, "We plan to focus inspections and management to ensure the establishment of the three major safety measures at small-scale sites by the end of the year through 'On-Site Inspection Days,' conduct '10-minute on-site safety education,' and distribute notices urging accident prevention."

Meanwhile, the Ministry of Employment and Labor announced that on the 24th, marking the 10th 'On-Site Inspection Day,' it will conduct a nationwide simultaneous inspection of compliance with the three major safety measures. To increase the establishment rate of these measures at construction and manufacturing sites under 1 billion KRW and with fewer than 10 workers, focused inspections and notice distributions will be conducted simultaneously. They plan to concentrate inspections on regional construction and manufacturing sites, waste disposal sites, roof improvement projects, and logging operations, which have strengthened risk prevention due to recent legal amendments.