This month, fatal accidents at four construction sites run by major builders have sent the construction industry's alert level to a peak. Since President Lee Jae-myung's remark about "business suspension," builders have been pouring effort into on-site safety inspections. Even so, as safety accidents continue, critics say structural problems lie underneath, including a decline in skilled workers, a rise in foreign workers, and safety training for the construction industry's workforce overall.
According to the construction industry on the 10th, the number of workers who have died at construction sites of the top 10 builders by construction capability evaluation this month is four. On the 9th, at the site of the "Prugio The Ocean" apartment complex under construction on Turtle Island in Jeongwang-dong, Siheung, Gyeonggi, a subcontractor's worker died. It is understood the worker was on the roof when they were struck by materials being moved by a large crane and died.
On the 6th, at a new apartment construction site in Gimhae, South Gyeongsang, where Lotte Construction is the builder, a subcontracted worker in their 50s died after being hit by an excavator bucket while spraying water around the excavation area. On the 4th, at the Ulsan North Port Terminal site built by Daewoo E&C, a worker cleaning the floor on the upper deck plate of an LNG tank lost consciousness and collapsed. Heat-related illness was suspected, and the worker was taken to a hospital but died. An autopsy is underway, and the exact cause of death is expected to be determined in two to three months. A day earlier, on the 3rd, an accident occurred at a new apartment construction site in Seongdong District, Seoul, by GS Engineering and Construction. A Chinese worker in their 50s fell from the 15th floor while installing exterior wall formwork, was taken to a hospital in cardiac arrest, and ultimately died.
The government and political circles are taking a hard line against builders involved in fatal accidents. Earlier, President Lee described POSCO E&C, where four fatal accidents occurred this year, as "murder by willful negligence," "repeated disclosures leading to a stock plunge," and said a "business suspension review" was under consideration. In the National Assembly, Rep. Moon Jin-seok of the Democratic Party of Korea proposed the Special Act on Construction Safety to impose up to one year of business suspension or a penalty surcharge of up to 3% of sales on project owners, builders, construction engineering firms, and architects where fatal accidents occur.
The industry expects that tougher punitive measures are unlikely to greatly reduce on-site accidents. Many say the very fact that accidents continue to occur, even as the entire industry has conducted intensive safety inspections and training after the POSCO E&C incident, proves the point. They note that at high-risk construction sites, a certain level of accidents may be irreversible. A civil engineering executive at a major builder said, "At large construction companies, the number of workers on site the day before is around 30,000, and it is realistically difficult to provide safety training to each individual," adding, "It may be similar to traffic accidents. Of course, the prime contractor bears responsibility, but accidents can happen no matter how careful workers are."
There are calls to examine structural causes behind safety accidents at construction sites. Observers point to issues with the proficiency of on-site workers, such as a decline in skilled workers and a rise in foreign workers, and say safety training, authority, and responsibility for on-site personnel should be systematized. From the project owner to on-site workers, everyone must take care to reduce accidents.
Yu Sun-jong, a professor of real estate studies at Konkuk University, said, "Because there are inevitably some safety accidents at construction sites, rather than issuing threats to 'shut them down,' we should discuss why it has come to this structurally and how to fix it," adding, "As the workforce's proficiency declines, we should also consider actively using artificial intelligence (AI) and robots on site."
Kim Min-hyeong, an adjunct professor at Chung-Ang University's Graduate School of Construction, said, "From the project owner to individual workers, authority and responsibility must be systematized for how to address safety issues," adding, "Fundamentally, all workers should receive training on safety and skills before being deployed on site. Instead of placing all responsibility on the prime contractor, a system should be built so that subcontractors also bear a certain level of responsibility, for the measures to be effective."