"Safety Is Money"
The Korea Housing Finance Corporation (HF, President Kim Kyunghwan) announced on November 28 that it has revised its project financing (PF) guarantee system to further prevent serious accidents at construction sites. The changes include expanding preferential guarantee fee rates for companies with excellent safety management, while strengthening penalty points in the review process for companies with poor construction quality or safety accidents.
This measure follows the government's "Comprehensive Labor Safety Measures" and "Detailed Financial Risk Management Plan for Serious Accidents" announced in September. The aim is to establish a culture of safety management at construction sites by applying both incentives and penalties.
HF has increased the preferential guarantee fee rate for companies recognized for excellent safety management (those with outstanding ESG evaluations) from 0.1% to 0.15%. Eligible companies are those that score 90 points or higher in the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency's (KOSHA) evaluation of industrial accident prevention activities, or those certified with KOSHA-MS.
Conversely, in the guarantee review process, the company will increase penalty points for companies with records of poor construction, safety accidents, or a high fatal accident rate (number of industrial accident deaths per 10,000 workers). Additionally, a new surcharge guarantee fee rate will be introduced for such companies.
Kim Kyunghwan, President of Korea Housing Finance Corporation, stated, "Proactive prevention efforts by companies are essential to reduce serious accidents at construction sites," adding, "As a public guarantee institution, we will faithfully fulfill our role in promoting a culture of safety."
© The Asia Business Daily(www.asiae.co.kr). All rights reserved.
