One Year After the Accident... Three People Including Hotel CEO Sent to Prosecution for '2-Year-Old Child Falling from Stair Railing'

Fall from Stair Railing at Daegu Hotel
Charges of Negligent Homicide and Building Act Violation
Excluded from Major Citizen Disaster

Regarding the incident last April in Daegu where a 2-year-old girl fell to her death from the stair railing of a hotel complex, the police have sent three individuals, including the hotel CEO, to prosecution after more than a year since the accident.

On the 15th, the Daegu Suseong Police Station announced that they had sent hotel CEO Mr. A to prosecution on charges of professional negligence causing death and violation of the Building Act. Additionally, the police also sent the hotel's safety management officer and safety management staff to prosecution on charges of professional negligence causing death. The police applied these charges based on their view that the hotel was responsible for ensuring child safety but neglected facility management, which led to the accident. Earlier, it was reported that the police were considering applying charges under the Serious Accidents Punishment Act for serious citizen disasters against these individuals, but after legal review, these charges were not applied.

On April 24 last year, a worker was welding to install additional stair railings on the stairs of Hotel A in Suseong-gu, Daegu, where a 2-year-old girl fell to her death.
[Photo by Yonhap News]

On April 16 last year, around 1:49 p.m., a 2-year-old girl fell through the gap in the emergency stair railing between the 3rd and 4th floors of a hotel complex in Suseong-gu, Daegu, and died after falling to the basement level 1. At the time, the child was using the emergency stairs with her parents to move to the parking lot when the accident occurred. The child was transported to the hospital in cardiac arrest but ultimately passed away. The gap in the stair railing where the accident occurred was 28?30 cm, wide enough for an adult to pass through, but there were no safety devices such as nets to prevent falls. Although the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport established a standard in 2015 requiring indoor railing gaps to be 10 cm or less, this standard was not applied to this hotel. The hotel had requested building review from the Suseong-gu jurisdiction before the standard was established, in 2014.

After the accident, the hotel belatedly completed facility reinforcement work, including the additional installation of stair railing balusters. Furthermore, prompted by growing public concern over safety in public facilities following this accident, Daegu City conducted a full survey of dangerous railings in multi-use facilities from April 24 to May 4 last year. As a result, among 299 railings surveyed?including 158 private multi-use buildings over 5,000㎡ such as hotels and wedding halls, and 141 public office buildings?182, accounting for over 60%, were found to be dangerous. Subsequently, Daegu City implemented safety measures for 69 public facilities by the end of last year, issued immediate correction orders for six private facilities, and issued correction recommendations for 107 locations.