[2025 Audit] 1,187 Accidents at Performance Venues in 3.5 Years... 31% Involved Casualties

Concert hall view. Pixabay

Over the past three and a half years, the number of incidents at performance venues requiring rescue operations by the National Fire Agency has exceeded 1,100, with accidents continuing to rise. Nevertheless, it has been revealed that a significant number of performance venues have yet to submit even the legally required disaster response plans.

According to data submitted by the National Fire Agency to Assemblywoman Son Sol of the National Assembly's Culture, Sports and Tourism Committee on the 22nd, there were a total of 1,187 rescue dispatches by firefighters in response to incidents at performance venues from 2022 through June of this year. Since 2022, when statistics for rescue dispatches at performance venues began to be separately classified, the annual number of rescue operations was 245 in 2022, 356 in 2023, and 453 in 2024, increasing by around 100 cases each year.

By type, direct life-threatening incidents-excluding event support, animal handling, and beehive removal-such as fires, elevator-related accidents, entrapments, collapses or crush injuries, gas leaks, falls, and cases requiring obstacle removal or safety measures, accounted for 370 cases, or 31.2% of the total.

Given that performance venues are spaces where large numbers of people gather, accidents have a high potential to result in mass casualties. In particular, fires, falls, and crush injuries carry a significant risk of escalating into large-scale disasters. In fact, there were confirmed cases where firefighters were dispatched for suspected terrorist situations within performance venues: three times in 2023 and once in 2024.

Performance venues include theaters, cinemas, concert halls, outdoor performance spaces, and permanent festival stages. Under Article 12 of the Performance Act, registered performance venues are required to submit safety inspection results and disaster response plans to their respective local governments. These plans must include an overview of the facility, disaster response measures by type, evacuation plans, fire and notification systems, rescue and emergency plans, and schedules for regular inspections and drills.

However, as of September 30, only 863 out of 1,043 performance venues (82.7%) registered in the Performance Venue Safety Information System had submitted disaster response plans, while 180 venues had not submitted the required plans.

Assemblywoman Son emphasized, "For audiences to enjoy performances safely, performance venues must function as 'safety facilities' beyond merely being cultural spaces. The Ministry of Culture, Sports and Tourism and local governments should strengthen on-site safety management at performance venues beyond just paperwork, and enforce stricter administrative measures against facilities that fail to submit the required plans."