Gyeonggi-do Establishes Underground Safety Management Plan... Proactive Response to Prevent Ground Subsidence

Number of Ground Subsidence Accidents in the Province Drops by About 42% from an Annual Average of 46 to 27 Last Year
Strengthening Underground Safety Prevention Activities to Reduce Ground Subsidence Accidents and Build a Provincial Underground Safety Management Model

Gyeonggi Province announced on the 24th that it held the ‘Gyeonggi Province Underground Safety Committee’ on the 14th and approved the ‘2025 Gyeonggi Province Underground Safety Management Plan’ for the safe development and use of underground spaces and prevention of ground subsidence.

Gyeonggi Province held the "Gyeonggi Province Underground Safety Committee" on the 14th and approved the "2025 Gyeonggi Province Underground Safety Management Plan." Photo by Gyeonggi Province

The underground safety management plan must be established annually to prevent ground subsidence accidents in accordance with the ‘Special Act on Underground Safety Management.’ Since the first establishment of the Gyeonggi Province Underground Safety Management Plan in 2021, underground safety management activities have been carried out every year according to the management plan. In 2018, there were 79 cases of ground subsidence accidents in the province, but after the establishment of the underground safety management plan, the number decreased by about 42% to 35 cases in 2021, 36 cases in 2022, 26 cases in 2023, and 27 cases last year.

Gyeonggi Province, in line with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport’s 2nd National Underground Safety Management Basic Plan (2025?2029), has been promoting the ‘2nd Gyeonggi Province Mid-term Underground Safety Management Plan (2025?2029) Establishment Project’ since May 2024 to prepare the basic direction and policy goals for underground safety management in the province over the next five years.

This year’s ‘2025 Gyeonggi Province Underground Safety Management Plan’ is composed of six promotion tasks in three areas: securing the effectiveness of the underground safety management system, establishing a construction safety management system, and preparing an underground safety management promotion system, with the goals of reducing the incidence rate of ground subsidence and building an underground safety management model.

First, to ‘secure the effectiveness of underground safety management,’ the plan will revise the Gyeonggi Province underground safety-related ordinance by establishing a basis for supporting the strengthening of underground safety inspections, such as the Gyeonggi Underground Safety Keeper, and will present guidelines to enhance the utilization of city and county underground safety management plans.

Additionally, to ‘establish a construction safety management system,’ the plan will strengthen on-site safety inspections at excavation sites by focusing on large-scale sites and high-risk excavation sites such as those with soft ground, and will conduct special inspections through the Gyeonggi Underground Safety Keeper in case of ground subsidence.

Regarding the ‘preparation of an underground safety management promotion system,’ the plan includes the creation of the ‘Gyeonggi Province Ground Subsidence On-site Action Manual,’ which stipulates the duties and response procedures to be performed by cities, counties, and related organizations in the event of ground subsidence accidents, and contains plans to support institutional practical training for underground safety officers.

Oh Hu-seok, Deputy Governor for Administration of Gyeonggi Province, said, “Although the number of ground subsidence accidents in the province is decreasing, continuous strengthening of underground safety management is necessary to further reduce accident occurrences,” and added, “Gyeonggi Province will discover and promote various preventive policies for proactive responses to prevent ground subsidence.”