Over 5,000 safety, quality issues found at construction sites

Officials of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea inspect a highway construction site in South Gyeongsang Province on July 31. (Yonhap)

Government inspections of construction sites across South Korea turned up 5,372 issues, over half of them related to safety, a report showed Thursday.

According to ministry and agency data compiled by Rep. Shin Yeong-dae of the ruling Democratic Party of Korea, the authorities have imposed punitive measures, such as administrative fines and corrective orders, on a total of 2,015 construction sites, ranging from apartment complexes to roads, railways and airports. Of the 5,372 issues found at those sites, 3,157 were related to safety management, such as failing to properly install temporary structures to prevent accidents.

Another 1,299 issues concerned lax management of construction work, 387 involved quality control, and 542 were related to other matters.

Issues were found in projects undertaken by some of the country's largest construction companies. A total of 213 punitive actions were imposed on companies ranked in the top 10 in the government's appraisal of execution capacity, as stipulated in Article 23 of the Framework Act on the Construction Industry.

Daewoo Engineering & Construction, No. 3 on this year's list, had 37 issues identified in the state inspection, while 29 cases each were found at Hyundai Engineering & Construction, which ranks second in construction capacity, and No. 4-ranked DL E&C.

GS E&C (No. 5) had 25 issues, as did HDC Hyundai Development Company (No. 10), while POSCO Eco & Challenge (No. 7) had 20.

The Incheon headquarters of POSCO Eco & Challenge was raided by police on Aug. 19 in connection with the July death of a worker at a highway construction site managed by the company.