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Illustration of a construction site. This image was generated using generative artificial intelligence (AI).

More than half of all fatal accidents at construction sites over the past five years or so were found to have been caused by falls. Fatal falls also persisted at construction sites operated by major builders, with instances where similar incidents recurred at the exact same site.

According to data submitted by the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport to Representative Hwang Hee of the Democratic Party of Korea, a member of the National Assembly's Land, Infrastructure and Transport Committee, on the 7th, fatalities at construction sites from 2021 through June of this year totaled 1,220.

Among them, workers who died from falls numbered 642, accounting for 52.6 percent of the total. In effect, more than one out of every two construction site fatalities was caused by a fall.

By year, fatal fall victims declined from 148 in 2021 to 130 in 2022, 127 in 2023, 108 in 2024, and 100 in 2025. Over the same period, total construction site fatalities also dropped from 272 to 199.

However, the proportion of falls among all fatal accidents remained high. Even in the first half of this year, half of the 58 construction site fatalities, or 29 workers, lost their lives to falls.

Sites run by major construction firms were no exception. Looking at accident data from the top 10 builders by construction capability evaluation submitted by the ministry, fatalities at sites managed by these builders over the past five years stood at 120. Among them, fatal fall victims totaled 36, making up 30 percent.

By construction company, Hyundai E&C and Lotte E&C recorded the highest number of fatal fall victims at six each, followed by Hyundai Engineering and POSCO E&C with five deaths each resulting from falls.

There were also cases where fatal falls recurred at the same site.

At Section 14 of the Anseong-Guri stretch of the Sejong-Pocheon Expressway constructed by Hyundai E&C, one worker died in a fall in February 2022, followed by another death from the same type of accident in September 2023.

At Hyundai Engineering, fatal falls occurred across different sites just five days apart. On April 6, 2023, a worker fell and died at the Gasan Knowledge Industry Center, and on April 11 of the same month, another worker died in a fall at the Guri Galmae Knowledge Industry Center.

Looking at total construction site fatalities by cause, incidents linked to individual workers accounted for the largest share at 539 deaths, or 44.2 percent. By detailed cause, worker negligence was the most frequent at 310 deaths, followed by unsafe behavior at 85, non-compliance with work procedures at 52, improper wearing of personal protective equipment at 47, and failure to wear protective equipment at 45.

Amid repeated fatal accidents, site inspections also identified cases where fundamental safety measures were not properly implemented.

In inspections conducted across eight work sections following a rebar-falling incident on the Shinansan Line, a site where a fatal vertical shaft fall occurred was found to lack a dedicated passageway for moving between floors. Workers were found to have used cable openings as access pathways instead.

                                                                                                             Jeon Won-jun