Suggestions for Improving South Korea's Fall Accidents Prevention Technology in the Construction Industry: Focused on Analyzing Laws and Programs of the United States

Abstract

Since the enactment of the Occupational Safety and Health Act in 1981, the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency has endeavored to prevent fall accidents in the construction industry. However, many fatalities still occur in the South Korean construction industry. Meanwhile, the United States improved various systems and conducted studies to prevent fall accidents, significantly reducing such occurrences in the construction industry. The objective of this study is to present improvements to South Korea's fall prevention technology by analyzing the laws and programs of the United States. To achieve this, this study has analyzed the United States' fall prevention technology and derived improvements applicable in South Korea through an expert opinion survey. This study suggests to (1) set the height standard of a fall accident to 2 m, (2) adopt an active fall prevention system, (3) create a map of fallen fatalities, and (4) employ safety experts to support foreign workers. In the future, the results of this study are expected to be used as basic data for policies and programs related to fall accidents in the construction industry.