PPS commissioner Baek Seung-bo visits '119 aviation maintenance facility' project in Cheongju to check heatwave response
The Public Procurement Service has launched inspections to prevent heat-related illness among construction workers exposed to the ongoing heatwave.
Commissioner Baek Seung-bo is conducting emergency heatwave safety inspections across 29 construction sites under the agency's direct management nationwide. On Wednesday, he visited the site of the "119 aviation maintenance facility construction project" in Cheongju, North Chungcheong Province, to assess heatwave response measures.
The project involves building a dedicated aviation maintenance facility for the National Fire Agency — comprising a hangar and administrative building with a total floor area of 6,973 square meters — to strengthen the country's disaster response and emergency patient transport capabilities.
During the visit, Baek conducted a focused inspection of worker safety measures at outdoor work sites, where the risk of heat-related illness is high. He checked whether cold drinking water and salt supplements were readily available to workers, whether rest areas had been set up with functioning cooling equipment, and whether cold-protection gear had been distributed.
At a meeting with construction officials, Baek urged strict compliance with rest-period requirements at each heatwave alert level — including Caution and Warning — and called for proactive reductions in outdoor work hours or temporary work stoppages when necessary. He also stressed the importance of maintaining a reliable emergency contact network to ensure immediate first aid and activation of the 119 reporting system in the event of a heat-related illness.
"In the face of relentless heatwaves, protecting the lives and health of workers must come before everything else," Baek said. "I urge everyone involved in this project to take full responsibility and carry out proactive, sustained safety management so that construction can be completed without a single casualty."
kwonhl@heraldcorp.com
