Gwangjin-gu Establishes Safety Enhancement Measures for Building Demolition Sites
Measures Established to Prevent Ongoing Safety Accidents at Building Demolition Sites
Thorough Review of Progress According to Demolition Plans and Mandatory Step-by-Step Site Inspections Added
Experts and Officials to Conduct Monthly Regular Site Inspections After Construction Start Notification
Gwangjin-gu (Mayor Kim Kyung-ho) is taking the lead in achieving ZERO safety accidents by establishing groundbreaking safety enhancement measures for building demolition sites.
Since the collapse accident during the demolition of an apartment in Gwangju early last year, related laws have been amended and improvement measures implemented to prevent accidents. However, accidents continued to occur consecutively within Seoul’s autonomous districts during the second half of last year.
The main causes of these accidents were non-compliance with demolition plans, illegal subcontracting for profit maximization, unfair practices, and demolition plans that did not reflect actual site conditions.
To proactively prevent safety accidents at building demolition sites, the district has introduced preemptive safety enhancement measures that include a meticulous review of demolition plans tailored to site conditions and additional regular site inspections conducted with experts.
First, to prevent abnormal construction practices such as illegal subcontracting, demolition permit conditions will be imposed. When submitting a construction start notification for building demolition, contractors must submit the demolition contract and direct construction plan. The demolition site must keep on hand the demolition work details, progress charts, and plans, and safety checklists have been strengthened to include contract amounts, equipment, and manpower deployment details.
Additionally, demolition plans prepared according to site conditions will be reviewed and thoroughly deliberated. Experts will first inspect the site before reviewing the demolition plan, and if necessary, review committee members will conduct on-site inspections considering complaints and site conditions.
Furthermore, experts and officials will take the lead in conducting more meticulous and thorough safety inspections. For all demolition sites, after processing the construction start notification, external experts and specialized personnel will check the progress according to the demolition plan on the actual start day (the first day of equipment use) and conduct monthly regular site inspections.
Finally, the permit officer will inspect the site once more after construction completion and process the completion notification if no issues are found.
If violations are discovered during focused safety inspections, managers, supervisors, and demolition workers will be subject to strict penalties, including imprisonment of up to 10 years or fines up to 100 million KRW, depending on the violation, holding them accountable for safety enhancement.
Kim Kyung-ho, Mayor of Gwangjin-gu, stated, “The importance of safety cannot be overemphasized anywhere. Regardless of the scale of construction, we will thoroughly inspect construction sites to ensure compliance with regulations,” and added, “We will always focus on prevention and do our best to create a comfortable and safe Gwangjin.”
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