Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police Crackdown on Illegal Fireproofing Construction and Unlicensed Work

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Companies that conducted illegal activities including poor-quality and unlicensed fireproofing construction work on large new buildings have been caught by Gyeonggi Province investigations.

In Chik-kwon, head of the Gyeonggi Province Special Judicial Police, held a press conference at the Gyeonggi Provincial Government building on the 3rd and said, "As a result of investigating illegal fireproofing construction work on 33 large new buildings that applied for completion permits in Gyeonggi Province from July to September, we apprehended 33 companies at 17 sites that engaged in unlawful acts including poor construction quality, false supervision, and illegal subcontracting."

This investigation was conducted to prevent large-scale fires and targeted large buildings with a total floor area of 15,000 square meters or more that were equipped with important fire safety facilities such as sprinkler systems, smoke control systems, and wireless communication auxiliary equipment among new buildings that applied for completion this year.

The violations included ▲11 companies for poor-quality fire safety construction ▲8 companies for submitting false supervision reports ▲8 companies for unlicensed fireproofing construction ▲4 companies for illegal subcontracting of fire safety work ▲2 companies for disconnecting important fire safety facilities.

Key cases include a fireproofing construction company at a residential-commercial complex building in City A that failed to install emergency broadcast system speakers on 3 floors (20 units) and wireless communication auxiliary equipment antennas on 17 floors. The fire safety supervisor submitted a supervision report marked as "no issues" to the relevant fire station and was apprehended.

A fireproofing construction company at a knowledge industry center building in City B failed to install 962 fire extinguishers and 67 sprinkler system heads. The fire safety supervisor falsely submitted a supervision report marked as "no issues" to the relevant fire station and was apprehended.

A construction company for an apartment complex in City C was apprehended for disconnecting the intermediate valve of the sprinkler system pipe and the switch interlocked with the fire receiver after obtaining a "fire safety construction completion certificate," leaving the building's fire safety facilities non-functional.

Additionally, an unlicensed company that constructed wireless communication auxiliary equipment at a residential-commercial complex building in City D was apprehended. The company initially received a contract worth 180 million won for the work, but through four rounds of illegal subcontracting, reduced the construction cost by 57 percent to 78 million won.

In particular, a construction company of a complex building in City E was apprehended for illegally subcontracting all of the contracted fire safety work, and a developer at another construction site was apprehended for illegally subcontracting fire safety work to an unlicensed company.

Under the Fire Safety Construction Business Act, illegal activities such as fire safety construction and false supervision reports are subject to "imprisonment of up to one year or a fine of up to 10 million won," and unlicensed construction is subject to "imprisonment of up to three years or a fine of up to 30 million won." Under the Fire Safety Facilities Act, disconnecting fire safety facilities is subject to "imprisonment of up to five years or a fine of up to 50 million won."

The Gyeonggi Special Judicial Police plan to file criminal charges against all personnel from the 33 companies that engaged in illegal fireproofing work as a result of this investigation.

In Chik-kwon said, "As seen in the recent Yongin logistics center fire incident, illegal fireproofing work poses a serious threat to the safety and lives of residents," adding "we plan to strengthen investigations to eliminate such illegal activities going forward."

Meanwhile, in Gyeonggi Province over the past three years, 1,252 fires occurred in large buildings with a total floor area of 15,000 square meters or more, resulting in 113 casualties.