Seoul City Assigns Skilled Workers to 220 Public Construction Sites to Enhance Construction Safety and Quality

More than 50% of key work types involve intermediate or higher skilled workers
Distribution of mandatory personnel placement standards on-site, management of compliance with standards

Seoul City will enhance construction safety and quality by mandating the deployment of skilled workers at over 200 public construction sites this year.

On the 31st, the city announced that it will expand the “Mandatory Deployment of Skilled Construction Workers Pilot Project” to 220 sites commissioned by the city and its affiliated public institutions this year. This includes 20 general construction sites and 200 specialized construction sites with construction costs exceeding 100 million KRW. This is four times the number of pilot sites (52) from last year. The city is implementing this pilot project to prevent declines in construction quality and increases in safety accidents caused by a decrease in construction labor and a rise in unskilled workers.

Through the expansion of the pilot project, the city also plans to establish the “Construction Worker Skill Grading System” introduced in 2021. This system assigns skill grades by comprehensively considering workers’ experience, education, and training. Based on converted experience, it classifies workers into four levels: beginner (less than 3 years), intermediate (3 years or more but less than 9 years), advanced (9 years or more but less than 21 years), and expert (21 years or more). This grading system is applied in the mandatory deployment pilot project for skilled construction workers.

The city, together with the Construction Workers Mutual Aid Association and the Seoul Institute, analyzed the status of 20,000 construction sites nationwide and 3.2 million construction workers to prepare “Mandatory Workforce Deployment Standards,” which will be distributed to this year’s pilot project sites. Workers will be deployed according to these standards.

Additionally, for 14 specialized construction sectors, the city will establish and distribute “Skilled Worker Deployment Standards by Workplace Scale” to ensure the mandatory deployment of intermediate and advanced skilled workers who meet the criteria. For example, in general construction projects, when performing specific tasks, the following must be deployed: ▲ one advanced and at least two intermediate rebar workers ▲ one advanced and at least two intermediate concrete workers ▲ one advanced and at least two intermediate paving workers ▲ one advanced and at least one intermediate demolition worker. Major tasks require that at least 50% of the workforce be intermediate or higher skilled workers. The standards will also apply to subcontracting contracts according to the relevant construction business licenses to encourage the selection of excellent subcontractors.

Management will be conducted in parallel to ensure proper application of the standards. At the bidding stage, the site briefing documents will specify that workers holding skill grades must be deployed according to the “Seoul City Workforce Deployment Standards.” At the commencement stage, contractors must submit skill grade certificates by occupation, planned schedules, and skilled workforce deployment plans to the client before starting work to enhance the pilot project’s effectiveness. During construction, the “Electronic Card Work Management System (mobile application)” will be used to continuously monitor the deployment of essential skilled construction workers.

Kim Seong-bo, Director of Seoul City’s Disaster and Safety Management Office, said, “Since the quality of construction work is ultimately completed by the hands of construction workers, the city will establish deployment standards for skilled workers at public construction sites to secure construction quality and strengthen workers’ employment stability, thereby fostering skilled workers.” He added, “Based on the results of this pilot project, we will also prepare measures to ensure the system is firmly established on-site.”