Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport issues practical guide for calculating and spending construction safety management costs
The government has established clearer standards for calculating construction safety management costs, aiming to better reflect actual needs at worksites. The move comes after persistent criticism that costs were being set too low and varied widely depending on the project owner.
The Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport and the Korea Infrastructure Safety Corporation announced Tuesday that they have drawn up a "Practical Manual for Calculating and Executing Construction Safety Management Costs" to help secure adequate funding and ensure efficient spending for accident prevention at construction sites.
Safety management costs are expenses set aside to ensure safe construction and protect pedestrians and structures near worksites. Under the Construction Technology Promotion Act, project owners include these costs in the contract amount, and contractors spend them on-site. The costs cover seven categories, including drafting and reviewing safety management plans, conducting safety inspections, implementing measures to prevent damage to nearby buildings, managing pedestrian safety around worksites, and installing and operating safety monitoring equipment.
However, the absence of specific calculation standards and standardized guidelines for each category has led to wide discrepancies in the amounts set by different project owners, made calculations difficult, and left sites without sufficient safety budgets — a problem that industry observers have repeatedly flagged.
In response, the government developed the practice-oriented manual to ease those difficulties and support safe construction.
The manual provides detailed guidance on the average number of engineering professionals required for each safety management category and their standard unit costs, giving project owners a concrete basis for calculating safety management costs by category.
It also presents reference data on average cost ranges by project type and scale, along with model examples of well-calculated budgets, so project owners can determine an appropriate funding level suited to the characteristics of each project.
The manual also clarifies the distinction between safety management costs under the Construction Technology Promotion Act and industrial safety and health management costs under the Occupational Safety and Health Act — two items that are frequently confused — by comparing them in detail across applicable categories and spending criteria. Industrial safety and health management costs refer specifically to expenses focused on protecting the physical safety of workers at construction sites.
"We hope the manual will help safety management costs be put to practical use on the ground, creating a safe construction environment where all participants can work with peace of mind," said Kim Myeong-jun, director general for technology and safety policy at the ministry. "We plan to actively promote the manual to project owners and contractors."
smh@heraldcorp.com
