Looking at the recent status of accidents, the number of industrial accident
deaths in Korea has been continuously decreasing from 992 in 2014 to 855 in
2020 (11% decrease), but the number of accident deaths in the construction
industry has declined f...
Looking at the recent status of accidents, the number of industrial accident
deaths in Korea has been continuously decreasing from 992 in 2014 to 855 in
2020 (11% decrease), but the number of accident deaths in the construction
industry has declined from 434 to 458 (5.5% increase). The construction
industry accounts for more than 50% of all industrial accident deaths.
The causes of construction accidents are very diverse, such as the complexity
and enlargement of structures due to urban development, insolvent
construction and bidding system problems due to low-cost bidding, application
of new technologies and new construction methods, and inadequate systems
that do not reflect construction site conditions.
This study compares and analyzes the contents of the Occupational Safety
and Health Act and the Construction Technology Promotion Act, which are
representative laws of construction safety management, and seeks to find
problems and improvement measures.
The first problem is that the Occupational Safety and Health Act marks the
construction industry among the entire industries in the law, paying attention
to safety management of construction works, and reinforcing the safety
management of construction works and supplementing the Occupational Safety
and Health Act through the enactment of the Construction Technology
Promotion Act. Due to the overlapping part, it takes time to understand the
safety management contents of the Occupational Safety and Health Act and
the Construction Technology Promotion Act. In addition, there are many
foreigners in recent construction workers, which makes it difficult to
understand and implement the contents of the law in Korean.
Second, the departments in charge of the two laws are set up by the
Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure
and Transport, respectively, which lacks efficiency.
Third, the two laws have overlapping content, as each law separately
stipulates similar tasks for the safety management organization and education
at the construction site.
Fourth, because risk assessment and safety review are separately conducted
by the two laws, consistency and efficiency are insufficient.
The Occupational Safety and Health Act prescribes risk assessment and
confirmation before or during construction, and safety accident management.
The Construction Technology Promotion Act implements a system to remove
risk factors before construction by conducting safety reviews when designing
construction works. Since the risk assessment and safety review conducted
by the two laws are carried out by each of the two departments, feedback
for safety management is difficult and consistent measures are difficult when
problems arise, so it is judged that the efficiency of the results obtained by
implementing the system for safety management is insufficient.
Fifth, it takes a lot of time to implement the administrative procedure, as it
is necessary to obtain approval of a hazard prevention plan and safety
management plan with similar contents from each of the two organizations.
Sixth, systematic and efficient cost execution is difficult due to the dualization
of safety management costs.
Occupational safety and health management costs in the Occupational Safety
and Health Act are calculated by multiplying the construction cost by a
certain rate according to the size of the construction, and the safety
management costs in the Construction Technology Promotion Act are required
to account for the cost required for safety management. The safety
management costs stipulated in both laws can be sufficiently duplicated and
executed, which is an obstacle to the efficient use of the budget.
As an improvement plan, for effective safety management of construction
works, the department in charge is unified with the Ministry of Land,
Infrastructure and Transport, and the laws are integrated with the
Construction Technology Promotion Act.If the accident rate and death rate are
similar to the entire industry, safety management in all industrial fields It is
reasonable to transfer to the Ministry of Employment and Labor, which is in
charge of the job, and take charge of overall industrial safety management.
Secondly, it is necessary to integrate the laws and regulations into one, and
for detailed information, a plan is needed to make use of the strengths of the
construction work safety management of the two laws and to compensate for
the shortcomings.
1) The safety management organization follows the name and composition
specified in the “Integration Guidelines for Hazard Risk Prevention and
Safety Management Plan, 2007” of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure
and Transport.
2) Education is prepared by integrating the contents of the Occupational
Safety and Health Act and the Construction Technology Promotion Act.
3) The administrative procedure needs a complementary system that, if the
law is integrated, is reviewed by the Ministry of Employment and Labor
and approved by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport.
4) By unifying safety management costs, we establish reasonable standards
for calculating safety management costs.
5) Reinforce feedback by integrating risk assessment and design safety
review into one system.
As for the improvement plan, it is proposed to revise the Occupational Safety
and Health Act and the Construction Technology Promotion Act by referring
to similar papers and cases of integration of laws. Since it is considered
desirable for each committee member and department in charge to participate.
The approximate adjustment bill is the improvement plan by newly
establishing the safety management contents expressed in the Construction
Technology Promotion Act “Chapter 5 Management of Construction Works,
Section 2 Quality and Safety Management of Construction Works” as “Section
3 Safety Management of Construction Works”. Including the information
presented in the section suggests a revision.
I think a lot of discussion and consultation are needed for the integration of
the two laws. Safety accidents in the construction industry may not be
reduced if no one makes concessions and only claims my own territory.
To reduce safety accidents in the construction industry, it is hoped that the
improvement measures that analyze and propose the advantages and
disadvantages of representative laws and regulations will be used for safety
management in the construction industry.
Key words: Occupational Safety and Health Act, Construction Technology
Promotion Act, overlapping, legislation integration