The Busan Metropolitan Government is comprehensively strengthening its safety management system with a "field-centered inspection" approach to prevent serious public disasters. The city aims to move beyond document-based formalistic checks and focus on verifying whether safety and health management systems are actually functioning on the ground.
Busan announced Monday that starting in April, it will expand its "first-half serious public disaster compliance inspections" to cover 415 city-managed facilities. The inspections are designed to go beyond simple verification and focus on securing field execution.
The city earlier established its "2026 Comprehensive Plan for Serious Public Disaster Prevention" and built a three-step feedback system consisting of employee training and self-inspection, written inspection and consulting, and on-site inspection and consulting. The system is designed to ensure that inspection results lead to actual improvements through a refined management framework.
The city is also raising both accountability and execution capability. For priority management facilities, bureau and division chiefs will personally conduct on-site inspections once every half-year, operating a dual inspection system that includes separate compliance verification procedures. For facilities found lacking, the city's dedicated team plans to provide immediate improvement measures through on-site consulting visits.
Busan is also moving to eliminate safety blind spots. The city will separately designate small-scale high-risk facilities not subject to legally mandated inspections and conduct risk assessments through specialized agencies, preemptively identifying and addressing potential hazards. Seasonal inspections will also be carried out for sectors with elevated accident risks, including facilities vulnerable during the spring thaw period and facilities for the elderly and children.
The city has also upgraded infrastructure to support field response capabilities. It fully revised its "Guidelines for Serious Public Disaster Prevention Compliance" so that field workers can apply them immediately. Last month, the city conducted capacity-building training for 184 officials from the city government, district offices, and public corporations. Public safety awareness campaigns are also being carried out through electronic billboards and online channels.
"The key to preventing serious public disasters lies in proactively identifying risk factors on site and making immediate improvements, rather than responding after an accident occurs," Busan Mayor Park Heong-jun said. "We will strengthen on-site inspections and consulting to build an effective safety management system."