The site managers indicted in the Anseong logistics warehouse construction site fall accident, which resulted in 5 casualties, received suspended prison sentences in the appellate court as well.
According to the legal community on the 27th, the Suwon District Court Criminal Appeals Division 1 (Director General Jeong Chang-geun, Lee Heon-sook, Kim Jong-geun) upheld the original judgment of 1 year and 6 months in prison with a 3-year suspension for site manager A (60) of the prime contractor, who was indicted on charges of violating the Industrial Safety and Health Act and causing death by negligence.
The original judgment, which sentenced construction managers B and C of the subcontractor to 1 year in prison with a 2-year suspension and 10 months in prison with a 2-year suspension respectively, was also upheld.
In addition, the appeals by the defendants and the prosecution regarding the 8 construction officials, including the safety manager of SGC E-Tech Construction, who were also indicted on charges of causing death by negligence, and the two corporate entities were all dismissed. They received sentences in the first trial ranging from 4 months to 1 year in prison with a suspension of 1 to 2 years and fines of 5 million to 15 million won.
The court said, "Considering that the installation method for this project was unprecedented compared to other construction sites, and that the situation appeared quite unsafe and dangerous even to the naked eye, it seems that if the safety measures were diligently implemented, the accident could have been prevented," and added that "the defendants bear significant responsibility for causing the accident due to their negligence in each of their duties."
The accident occurred at about 1:05 p.m. on Oct. 21, 2022, at the construction site of the KY Logistics cold storage warehouse in Oegacheon-ri, Wonkong-myeon, Anseong City, Gyeonggi Province. During a concrete pouring operation, the formwork collapsed to the lower floor, causing 5 workers to fall approximately 10 meters, of which 3 died and 2 suffered serious injuries.
According to the investigation, it was revealed that basic safety protocols were not followed, such as arbitrarily connecting jack supports in a two-tier manner when installing formwork during concrete pouring at the accident site. The floor height of the accident site was 12.8 meters, and since there were no jack supports that could be installed at that height, it was investigated that two jack supports of 10 meters and 3 meters were used by bolting them together without a stability review.
Additionally, to shorten the construction period, it was found that concrete was poured in the order of 'column-floor-beam' instead of 'column-beam-floor', which led to the jack supports being unable to withstand the load.