Gyeonggi Province Pushes to Amend Law Granting Metropolitan Local Governments Inspection and Enforcement Authority Over Private Construction Sites

[Suwon Ilbo = Reporter Park No-hun] Gyeonggi Province has taken action to reduce construction site accident fatalities by proposing amendments to the "Construction Technology Promotion Act" to the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, allowing metropolitan local governments to exercise inspection and enforcement authority over private construction sites.

This measure aims to overcome limitations in current law and eliminate blind spots in safety management by establishing systematic safety inspection plans for construction sites at the metropolitan local government level and building a more robust supervisory system.

Under the current "Construction Technology Promotion Act," inspection authority over private construction sites is limited to the Minister of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, project owners, and local government heads at the basic local government level (city and county). Metropolitan local government heads have been unable to conduct inspections or impose enforcement measures independently.

The problem is that the number of inspectors is insufficient relative to the number of construction sites, making it difficult to carefully monitor all sites and respond to and address issues promptly.

In fact, 36.8% of the nation's construction sites are concentrated in the Seoul metropolitan area, yet there are only about 10 inspectors from the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to oversee them. Notably, 58% of construction sites in the Seoul metropolitan area are concentrated in Gyeonggi Province (as of November 2021).

The province has thus far exerted maximum effort within the current legal framework by coordinating with city and county governments and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport holding inspection authority, focusing on small-scale private construction sites with high accident fatality rates through safety education, guidance, and inspections. However, given that this requires consistent and long-term attention and effort, there have been limitations.

Notably, South Korea's annual construction industry accident fatalities stand at 506, ranking second among OECD countries (based on 2017 data, source: Korea Construction Industry Research Institute), and the fatality rate per 10,000 constant workers ranks third within OECD (based on 2015 data, source: Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport press release). The province explains that a more comprehensive and stronger supervisory system is needed to establish a construction safety culture.

Moreover, in the case of Gyeonggi Province, over the past three years (2018-2020), an average of 126 accident fatalities occurred annually at construction sites within the province, with 97.6% occurring at private construction sites, making more active inspections and enforcement measures necessary.

The proposed bill includes amendments to Articles 53 "Defect Measurement of Construction Works" and 54 "Inspection of Construction Sites" of the "Construction Technology Promotion Act" to grant metropolitan local governments the authority to conduct on-site inspections and implement enforcement measures such as penalty points against private construction sites.

The targets are construction sites undertaken by basic local governments such as cities and counties, and private construction sites approved by basic local governments.

The province particularly expects that by going beyond simple inspection and enforcement activities and implementing safety consulting, worker and business owner safety education, and guidance on relevant regulations, its various construction safety policies will be effectively communicated to construction sites.

Park Jong-geun, Director of Construction Safety and Technology Division, stated, "Worker safety management is no longer an exclusive responsibility of the national government alone, but a collaborative undertaking of the nation and local governments." He added, "Through this amendment to relevant laws, we will do our best to not only secure the effectiveness of inspections by expanding the province's inspection and enforcement authority, but also to ensure that education and information about relevant regulations are disseminated to construction sites."