How to Prevent Road Sinkhole Accidents?..."Special Investigation of Roads Around Underground Development"

Seoul Metropolitan Council Urban Safety and Construction Committee (Chairman Kang Dong-gil) Jointly Proposes 'Underground Safety Management Ordinance Amendment' to Prevent Large Sinkhole Accidents...Mandatory Joint Investigation of Roads Around Ground Excavation Sites

At the end of last August, a passenger car fell into a sudden ground collapse (subsidence) in Yeonhui-dong, Seodaemun-gu, Seoul, and on the 21st of last month, two trucks fell into a ground collapse at the Busan Sasang-gu Urban Railroad Corporation site, marking a series of recent large-scale ground collapse accidents.

In response, the Seoul Metropolitan Council's Urban Safety and Construction Committee (Chairman Kang Dong-gil · photo) unanimously proposed the "Partial Amendment to the Seoul Metropolitan Underground Safety Management Ordinance," which mandates the mayor to conduct a joint investigation on the road when underground excavation work is carried out due to underground development projects beneath or adjacent to roads. The ordinance was jointly proposed by all 11 members of the Urban Safety and Construction Committee (Kang Dong-gil, Kim Dong-wook, Kim Yong-ho, Kim Hye-ji, Nam Chang-jin, Park Sung-yeon, Lee Eun-rim, Choi Min-gyu, Park Chil-seong, Bong Yang-soon, Seong Heum-je).

According to this ordinance, when underground development subject to underground safety evaluation or small-scale underground safety evaluation under the "Underground Safety Act" is carried out beneath or adjacent to roads managed by Seoul City (referring to city roads including sidewalks), the mayor is obligated to conduct a joint investigation on the relevant road by setting an effective cycle and scope.

At this time, if deemed necessary for the joint investigation, the mayor may request the underground development operator to submit materials such as the legally required underground safety evaluation report or underground safety investigation report after commencement, and the underground development operator must cooperate unless there are special reasons.

Furthermore, if subsidence or cavities are found or there is a risk of occurrence during the investigation cycle, the mayor is required to take prompt measures.

Chairman Kang Dong-gil, the principal proposer of the ordinance, stated, “Although Seoul City has been conducting periodic joint investigations on the entire road (city roads) to detect subsidence or cavity occurrences, the cycle is very long, and since most large-scale ground collapses are caused by surrounding underground excavation work, it was judged necessary to set a special effective investigation cycle and scope for roads adjacent to underground development projects to conduct separate detailed investigations, which led to the joint proposal of this amendment.”

He added, “Once this ordinance is implemented, the probability of detecting signs of large-scale ground collapses caused by underground development in advance will increase accordingly, enabling faster safety measures and significantly reducing the risk of major accidents such as vehicles falling in.”

This ordinance is scheduled to be submitted to the Seoul Metropolitan Council’s December extraordinary session, and upon passing the Urban Safety and Construction Committee review and the plenary session, it will be forwarded to the mayor and enforced immediately upon promulgation.