Safety management guidelines developed for ancillary facilities at school swimming pools

8 facility types, 77-item checklist developed and applied

Elementary school students learn swimming at the leisure sports center of Korea Maritime and Ocean University. [Yonhap]
Elementary school students learn swimming at the leisure sports center of Korea Maritime and Ocean University. [Yonhap]

By Kim Yong-jae, The Herald Business

The Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education is moving to close safety blind spots in ancillary facilities at school swimming pools.

The office announced Wednesday that it has established a standard safety management guideline covering installation criteria and safety protocols for ancillary facilities at school swimming pools, aimed at creating a safe environment for students and local residents.

The office has been pursuing a project to transfer management of school swimming pools to its headquarters in order to reduce the administrative burden on individual schools and raise the level of operational expertise.

In the process of expanding that transfer to include ancillary facilities such as fitness centers attached to school pools, the office identified gaps in safety management. In response, it commissioned a policy research study from the Korea Education Facility Safety Institute to establish safety management standards suited to each type of facility.

Based on the research findings, ancillary facilities at school swimming pools were classified into eight types. The facilities covered include fitness centers (gyms), golf driving ranges, virtual sports facilities (screen golf), and GX (aerobics and Pilates) rooms.

The office's Education Facility Management Headquarters developed a 77-item checklist spanning seven fields — architecture, mechanical systems, fire safety, electrical, gas, sanitation and hygiene, and traffic flow management — to build a comprehensive safety inspection framework.

The office plans to apply the research findings immediately to facility inspections at transferred schools starting in July, systematizing safety management. The related research will be made public Thursday through the Policy Research Management System (PRISM).

Jeong Hyo-young, head of the Seoul Metropolitan Office of Education's Education Facility Management Headquarters, said the office had established an integrated safety management framework for school swimming pool ancillary facilities that had previously lacked adequate management standards. "We will continue to refine these standards and work to spread them as a national model for safety management of multi-use school facilities," Jeong said.


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