[Run Again, Construction Korea] The Pinnacle of Safety Technology... Samsung C&T Builds the World's Tallest 1st and 2nd Towers

Samsung C&T Completes World’s 2nd Tallest Merdeka 118 Spire
Safely Finishes Construction at 500m Above Ground
Mandatory DfS Process Throughout...Changing the Paradigm
Fully Guarantees Workers’ Right to Stop Work, Enhancing Site Safety
Industry-Wide Impact...“Strengthening Promotion and Education”

Workers are reviewing the design modification plan that eliminates risk factors at the construction site of the Merdeka118 building in Malaysia, being built by Samsung C&T. On the 30th of last month, Samsung C&T successfully completed the spire construction of this building at a height of 500 meters above ground, achieving the remarkable feat of constructing Merdeka118, the second tallest building in the world after the Burj Khalifa. (Photo by Samsung C&T)

On the 30th of last month, the spire of Malaysia's Merdeka 118 Tower (678.9m), the second tallest building in the world, was completed. This building, a complex consisting of 118 floors above ground, is expected to be fully completed by the end of next year, but with the completion of the spire construction, it has proudly secured its place in the list of supertall buildings. The construction company overseeing overall quality and safety management for this project is Samsung C&T. Having built the world's tallest building, the Burj Khalifa (828m) in Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Samsung C&T has now become the company that has constructed both the world's first and second tallest skyscrapers.

The spire construction, which is the core of the project and determines the final height, took about a month. While advanced construction methods and technical skills were required, above all, safely conducting construction in the narrow space at a height of 500 meters above ground was not easy. Before starting the spire construction, Samsung C&T held multiple meetings between the site and headquarters to make every effort to ensure the safety of workers. Samsung C&T proposed an alternative design by reducing the number of steel frames used in the spire within structurally safe limits and minimizing pre-welding work, successfully completing the construction safely.

Samsung C&T DfS (Design for Safety) team and on-site personnel are discussing ways to eliminate hazards while reviewing blueprints at an office building site in Yeouido, Seoul. Samsung C&T has fully adopted the DfS concept, which analyzes and identifies risks from the pre-construction stage to ensure worker safety. (Photo by Samsung C&T)

Mandatory DfS Process Throughout All Stages...Changing the Safety Paradigm

As safety issues in industrial sites have recently become a hot topic, all construction companies are focusing on measures to prevent safety accidents. In particular, Samsung C&T is transforming the paradigm of construction safety by fully adopting the concept of Design for Safety (DfS). DfS refers to the pre-analysis of risk factors in a project from the design stage and the removal, technical improvement, or substitution of these risks.

Samsung C&T's DfS is not applied only at the design stage. It designs safety measures for each phase of the project lifecycle, including design, construction planning, construction, and operation. To this end, Samsung C&T operates a dedicated department composed of product experts in architecture, civil engineering, and plants, as well as technical experts in design, structure, mechanical and electrical, and equipment, who rigorously consider safety assurance measures.

DfS starts with collecting and analyzing diverse data. To conduct accurate and prompt risk assessments, Samsung C&T broadly collects and analyzes various safety-related cases from existing sites as well as domestic and international construction sites. Over the past 10 years, more than 7,200 site safety cases have been collected and analyzed, and about 400 design improvement items have been identified and databased. A Samsung C&T official explained, "We have intensively analyzed not only safety during construction but also cases related to the safety of users and operators."

In particular, Samsung C&T has made it mandatory to apply the DfS process at all stages of the project lifecycle. This is to ensure that DfS is not used merely as a formality but plays an effective role on-site. The entire project lifecycle from start to finish is broadly divided into bidding (6 stages) and execution (10 stages), and among the total 16 stages, the DfS process is introduced and operated in 7 stages, including risk item identification and applicability verification, detailed implementation planning, and stage-by-stage implementation management.

A Samsung C&T official said, "We plan to disclose the accumulated DfS data externally in the future," adding, "We hope that DfS will serve as a catalyst for establishing a new safety culture and that safety will be recognized as a universal value that cannot be compromised across the industry, including clients, peers, and partners."

A banner informing about the 'Right to Stop Work' is hung at a Samsung C&T construction site. In March, Samsung C&T fully authorized the right to stop work if workers judge the environment or situation to be unsafe. (Photo by Samsung C&T)

Full Guarantee of Workers' ‘Right to Stop Work’ ? "Demand Based on Own Judgment"

Samsung C&T is also rapidly establishing a top-level on-site safety system based on worker participation. Since safety at construction sites requires active participation from frontline workers, various systems, structural improvements, and training are being implemented to support this.

The most representative measure is the full guarantee of workers' right to stop work. Currently, South Korea's Industrial Safety and Health Act stipulates the right to stop work but limits it to cases of imminent danger of industrial accidents, so its actual use on-site is not active. Samsung C&T, however, has fully guaranteed that workers can exercise the right to stop work whenever they judge the environment or situation to be unsafe, even if it is not an imminent danger. The aim is to create an atmosphere where workers can freely exercise this right without worrying about superiors or clients.

Since Samsung C&T declared the full guarantee of the right to stop work in March, a total of 3,050 cases of work stoppage rights have been exercised at 75 domestic and overseas Samsung C&T sites over eight months until October, averaging about 380 cases per month. Of these, 95% (2,887 cases) were situations where action could be taken within 30 minutes after the work stoppage request. A Samsung C&T official explained, "Even minor issues are identified and shared by workers with vigilance, preventing safety accidents," adding, "It is meaningful that a worker-centered safety culture is being established where workers demand the right to safety based on their own judgment, even if it is not an imminent danger."

The establishment of institutional measures to ensure that workers can actively exercise the right to stop work without fear of disadvantages has greatly influenced the activation of the system. Samsung C&T operates a reward system and a risk discovery mileage accumulation system for workers who exercise the right to stop work, providing about 200 million KRW in incentives. There is also a system to compensate partner companies for losses caused by work stoppages.

Samsung C&T's efforts to ensure safety are ongoing. Based on the experience of implementing the right to stop work, Samsung C&T plans to improve the operation method so that workers can exercise the right more easily and quickly and receive immediate feedback on the measures taken. To this end, they are developing a work stoppage discovery and action application to unify the channels for reporting and addressing risks, and establishing an immediate response system for risks based on accumulated risk discovery data.

Additionally, the role of emergency safety action teams at each site is being expanded to proactively discover risks. Since Samsung C&T fully introduced the right to stop work, other construction companies and public institutions have also actively adopted it, significantly influencing the entire industry. A Samsung C&T official emphasized, "We plan to actively expand promotion, education, and campaigns so that workers can check the safety status of their work environment and exercise the right to demand improvements and stop work as a natural right."