Park Jung-ju, head of the Life Safety Division at the Ministry of Safety and Security Administration, begins her day by organizing a packed schedule. Since the new government took office in February, Park has been reorganized, making her even busier. But she never wastes time. She is also passionate. He feels a sense of pride when he sees the revitalization of a difficult industry through active work. "Now my focus is on life safety and elevator safety."

Recently, amendments to the Elevator Act have been implemented. In September, the inspection standards for elevators will also be revised and applied. This has led to frequent bickering and disagreements between the government and the industry, but he is humbled by it. "I think it's more encouraging to have a bustling market than a stagnant one," he says, adding that the industry can find potential for development through consensus.

The newly formed Council for Elevator Safety Enhancement and Industry Development is the same idea. The idea is that we can communicate with the industry, discuss problems, and change each other's thinking. If necessary, the government will also continue to push for revisions to the law in favor of leading companies rather than limited companies in consultation with the industry.

"The government is no longer in a position to lead the industry, but rather a facilitator behind the scenes. With the mindset of a 'farmer' who allocates the industry's resources efficiently, I will take the lead in preparing laws to foster small and medium-sized enterprises," he says, eager to discuss the industry's new hopes rather than inconvenient truths.

 

The new government is emphasizing safety more than ever as a policy focus, with the goal of realizing a society where people are safe. The field of life safety, which is threatening national security, is the core policy that the new government is focusing on.

Few people would feel happy in a state of insecurity without safety. Therefore, from the perspective of the people, safety is the minimum right to pursue happiness and the minimum welfare that the state should guarantee to the people. In fact, 'national safety' is not a new concept, but it is the government's strong will to do the most basic things properly.

Speaking of 'life safety', everyone knows or is familiar with it, but when you look at the details, there are many areas that you don't know much about. First of all, most of the safety accidents that occur around our daily lives are included in the field of life safety, but our department is especially in charge of increasing the safety of children, women, the elderly, and the economically disadvantaged, as well as safety policies such as elevators and children's playgrounds.

Since safety is the most fundamental aspect of people's happiness, we plan to build a strong foundation from the ground up by analyzing the causes of safety accidents in detail and coming up with fundamental alternatives.

In addition, the elevator field is a complex and intertwined field involving not only the government but also the elevator manufacturing, importing, installation, and maintenance industries. So far, many people involved have been working on elevator safety, but in the future, we plan to systematize sharing and collaboration from the manufacturing stage, so that the development of the entire elevator industry can lead to elevator safety.

 

When analyzing the causes of safety accidents, there are two main areas: defects or poor maintenance of the machines or parts themselves, and user carelessness. The safety administration has established and operated a system to prevent poor manufacturing and maintenance, so accidents caused by mechanical problems are settling at the level of developed countries. However, it can be seen that almost all accidents are still caused by user error.

For example, people are not allowed to walk or run on escalators, but they fall while walking or running, and accidents occur, or people fall because they do not hold on to the handrail and are pushed by a passerby. In order to fundamentally reduce these accidents, we will focus on publicity and education for safe use, and strive to spread and internalize a safety culture throughout society.

As part of these efforts, we are also making great efforts to improve the system, including the revision of the Elevator Facility Safety Management Act, which introduces a differential inspection system and mandates the supply of parts for maintenance. In addition, we are building an 'elevator comprehensive information system' to provide safety information such as the installation, inspection, accident and failure history of individual elevators to the public, and recently reorganized the elevator inspection standards into comprehensive safety standards in line with international standards such as Europe.

In addition, to reduce the number of safety accidents caused by user negligence, which has been increasing rapidly in recent years, we provide safety education to about 400,000 vulnerable people, including children and the elderly, through 'visiting safety classes' and conduct various promotional and educational activities such as campaigns and children's quiz contests.

As such, our Safety Administration will continue to introduce advanced systems to ensure that elevators are managed and operated safely to protect the lives and safety of the public, and will do its best to build a safety system and raise safety awareness.

The amendments to the Elevator Act are currently being implemented. Last month, you conducted a series of trainings for the industry that is still confused about the law. Please tell us about the safety administration's future plans for smooth application of the law.

From April 12-25, we held six nationwide training sessions for 1,300 people, including officials in charge of elevators, related organizations and institutions, manufacturers and importers, installers, and maintenance companies, on the revised Elevator Act.

While we hope to reduce confusion in the industry and ensure the smooth application of the revised Elevator Act, there are still many inquiries about the details, so we will register them on the Q&A section of the website of the Ministry of Safety, Health and Welfare and share them with elevator inspection agencies to make it easier for the public to find and ask questions.

 

Until now, our safety administration has been focusing on 'elevator safety' and formulating and promoting policies. However, enhancing elevator safety is a prerequisite for safe elevator manufacturing, so I would say that elevator safety enhancement and industrial development are like two wheels of a cart, not the front and back of the same coin.

It is of great significance that the council, composed of representatives of elevator-related organizations, organizations, and manufacturers, has opened a venue for efforts to derive a safety enhancement plan that encompasses further institutional improvements to the Elevator Safety Act and the development of the elevator industry.

All members of the council will actively work together to come up with an excellent plan that will ensure the safety of the public and revitalize the elevator industry.

 

How do you anticipate the impact and impact of the revised elevator inspection standards on the industry?

The European Elevator Inspection Standard, which is now an international standard, will be a major turning point in strengthening elevator safety in Korea, and I know that the industry itself agrees that it is necessary to adopt it in order to keep up with international standards.

It is also believed that the revision of the inspection standards will encourage the industry to look beyond domestic boundaries and promote technological development. For reference, European standards have already been introduced and applied to some elevators such as the MRL in 2006, and this legislation has been supplemented to suit domestic conditions. Currently, the elevator inspection agency is preparing a detailed manual for the application of the inspection standards, and it is believed that the industry will not have much difficulty adapting to it.

 

Considering that the elevator maintenance industry is currently experiencing a shortage of technicians, the biggest problem in the industry is the shortage of skilled professionals, which is believed to be caused by the low treatment of elevator technicians and the decrease in the supply of technicians from the manufacturing sector due to the overseas relocation of factories.

Therefore, we believe that it is necessary to create a social atmosphere for elevator technicians, who are directly responsible for the safety of the public, to receive proper treatment as professionals, and to create a comprehensive education system to foster specialized technical personnel.

What are the plans of the Life Safety Division of the Ministry of Safety and Health Administration for 2013 and any mid- to long-term master plans for the future?

The Ministry of Safety and Security Administration has been making great efforts to advance the system, including law amendments. In particular, the amendments to the Elevator Act came to fruition in February this year, so in the second half of 2013, we will do our best to ensure that the amendments are safely implemented.

Also, as the development of the 'Comprehensive Information System for Elevators' is being finalized, we will strive to build a complete computerized system so that there will be no inconvenience to the public.

The revision of relevant laws and regulations has been completed in accordance with the mid- to long-term master plan we have established. However, we believe that any system should always be reborn in accordance with social changes, trends, and technological developments. Therefore, we plan to identify problems after the laws and regulations are settled and make continuous efforts to improve the system by establishing a mid- to long-term plan again.

 

Korea ranks eighth in the world with 470,000 elevators as of the end of 2012, and the number of new elevators installed every year is about 25,000, making it the third largest elevator country in the world after China and India. The Ministry of Safety and Administration is focusing on securing elevator safety, as it is the highest in the world when analyzed by the number of elevators per capita.

With so many elevators, there are many accidents and breakdowns, and in 2012, there were 133 accidents and about 14,000 breakdowns.

Considering that 113 of the accidents were caused by user negligence, accounting for 85% of the total, we believe that the manufacturing, installation, and maintenance of elevators have reached a certain level, but we need to pay more attention to elevator safety and make every effort to prevent accidents and failures so that not a single citizen will be harmed by accidents caused by faulty elevators.