Seoul tightens safety rules for demolishing aging bridges after Seosomun overpass collapse

The Seoul Metropolitan Government will overhaul the safety management framework for demolishing aging bridges and overpasses. Demolition designs will undergo expert verification before work begins, and unmanned inspections will become the standard at hazardous sites. The measures are a direct response to the Seosomun overpass collapse in May.

The city plans to implement measures it can apply immediately, ahead of any broader regulatory reforms by the central government, the Seoul Metropolitan Government said Monday. Safety management will be strengthened starting from the planning and design stages, before construction begins.

The city will introduce a pre-verification process for the demolition design of civil structures, reviewing safety at each stage of the dismantling process and having experts conduct advance checks through a construction technology review.

For overpasses that cross railway lines, work is currently limited to about two and a half hours per night, when trains are not running. Going forward, the city will coordinate with the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport, Korea Railroad Corporation and other relevant agencies to secure sufficient working hours for safe demolition.

During the construction phase, the city will revise the criteria for selecting supervision firms to ensure that engineers with extensive demolition experience manage work sites. The change will add an evaluation of participants' demolition experience to the pre-qualification assessment used to gauge project execution capability.

Video documentation of key processes — such as cutting or lifting structural elements — will also be strengthened. On top of existing continuous wide-angle site recording, the city will designate critical processes requiring documentation at the design review stage and require step-by-step filming throughout.

Emergency response systems will be upgraded to allow rapid action when warning signs emerge. If a structure sags or deforms, the situation will be immediately reported to relevant agencies, and officials will convene to coordinate site control, emergency inspections and remedial measures.

To prevent secondary accidents of the kind that can occur during hands-on inspections — as happened during the May collapse — the city will make contactless unmanned inspection using drones, robots and endoscopes the standard approach.

When direct inspection is unavoidable, only the minimum number of personnel will be deployed. The city will also work through contractors to ensure that the relevant specialists are covered by workers' accident liability insurance, so they are protected in the event of an incident.

Institutional support will be strengthened to ensure that the personnel and technology needed for safety management are properly deployed on site. When calculating design, supervision and construction costs for demolition projects, the city plans to allocate sufficient budget for safety management measures, including structural condition assessments and unmanned inspections.

Kim Yong-hak, Seoul Metropolitan Government Director of Construction Technology Policy, said the structural condition of aging civil structures changes continuously during the demolition process. "We will thoroughly eliminate risk factors that may arise on site through a proactive safety management system," Kim said. "We will prioritize the safety of citizens and on-site workers by swiftly applying measures that can be implemented immediately, ahead of the central government's regulatory reforms," he added.