Acting Gyeonggi Province Governor Oh Byeong-kwon Emphasizes 'Preemptive Prevention Measures for Disaster Risk Areas Such as Quarries'

[Suwon Ilbo=Reporter Park No-hun] Acting Gyeonggi Province Governor Oh Byeong-kwon held a quarry safety management meeting at the Gyeonggi Province Government Office on the morning of the 4th as a follow-up measure to the Yangju quarry burial accident.

The meeting was conducted via video with attendance of department and bureau heads from Gyeonggi Province's Safety Management Division, Labor Bureau, and Livestock and Forest Bureau, as well as vice heads of administrative bodies from all 31 cities and counties.

Acting Governor Oh Byeong-kwon stated, "With the enforcement of the Serious Accident Punishment Act ahead of us, despite considerable efforts made so far, I feel deeply sorrowful that such an accident occurred at business sites in the province. We must use this accident as an opportunity to reexamine whether there has been any negligence in safety management and redouble our efforts."

He continued, "Quarries and other areas where ground becomes weakened during the thaw season present many accident concerns, so please carefully inspect dangerous facilities such as retaining walls, stone embankments, landslide-prone areas, cut slopes, and steep slopes. I urge you to take all possible measures for accident prevention, including on-site safety measures, safety education, disaster prevention facility installation, and placement of warning signs."

Acting Governor Oh added, "The province, cities and counties have been conducting emergency joint inspections at winter construction sites since January 17th. During the Lunar New Year holiday period, we completed inspections of 693 out of 1,140 total sites, exceeding a 60% inspection rate. Please ensure that construction site safety inspections continue without interruption."

At the meeting, discussions took place primarily among five cities and counties with quarries in the province—Pocheon City (4 sites), Yeoncheon County (2 sites), Paju City, Anseong City, and Yangju City—regarding the cause of the Yangju quarry burial accident and future prevention measures.

In particular, each city and county decided to promote thaw season safety management for retaining walls, stone embankments, slopes, and landslide-prone areas with similar risk factors.

Meanwhile, Acting Governor Oh Byeong-kwon visited the scene immediately upon receiving news of the Yangju quarry burial accident on the 29th of last month and instructed relevant parties to take rapid rescue and on-site safety measures.