The three telecommunications companies will focus on accident prevention measures by jointly investing in safety facilities for base station towers that they jointly use by leasing private buildings.

SK Telecom (CEO Yoo Young-sang) announced on the 5th that it has decided to jointly build base station safety facilities with KT and LGU+ to ensure the safety of workers at telecommunication construction sites and tower sites and prevent accidents.

This agreement is a measure to prevent falls, which are the most frequent accident during telecommunications work, and to provide a safe working environment for workers by jointly constructing safety facilities for wireless stations installed on the rooftop or attic space of buildings to ensure smooth mobile telecommunications services.

The repeaters installed on the rooftop of a rental space may differ slightly depending on the size of the rental building and the design method of each company's communication network, but considering that they are usually installed on the 5th to 15th floors of a building, there is a very high possibility of a serious accident occurring in the event of a fall during work.

The three companies have agreed to jointly build safety facilities for approximately 24,000 rooftop locations, with each company building 8,000 locations. We will install vertical ladders, fall prevention facilities such as backrests, safety platforms and hooks.

Starting in 2022, the three telecommunications companies will voluntarily operate the 'Telecommunications Three Companies Safety and Health Council' with the participation of safety and health executives and department heads to improve the safety and health level of the domestic telecommunications industry.

The safety and health council is sharing each company's safety and health coexistence plans and achievements and discussing cooperation plans. In fact, the council has conducted a joint campaign with the Ministry of Employment and Labor (attaching safety awareness slogans to 3,500 business vehicles) to enhance safety awareness.

This agreement on joint construction of base station safety facilities among the three telecommunication companies will be an opportunity to raise the level of safety and health in the domestic telecommunications industry to the next level, and we plan to actively participate in the 'Major Accident Reduction Roadmap' promoted by the Ministry of Employment and Labor to reduce the accidental death rate to the OECD average level by 2026.

The Ministry of Employment and Labor and the Korea Occupational Safety and Health Agency also participated in the voluntary safety and health improvement agreement ceremony of the three telecommunication companies and promised continuous support to ensure safety in telecommunications workplaces and help a safety culture take root.

Choi Tae-ho, director of the Ministry of Employment and Labor’s Industrial Accident Prevention Supervision Policy Bureau, said, “Small and medium-sized businesses are more likely to be exposed to risks due to insufficient industrial safety budget and personnel,” and “This agreement among the three telecommunications companies to establish a safe work environment is a very meaningful effort to protect the lives and health of workers belonging to small and medium-sized partner companies. The government also said, “We will do our best to ensure that mutually beneficial safety can spread between large and small businesses.”

Kang Jong-ryeol, SKT’s Chief Safety Officer (CSPO), said, “We will strive to establish a culture that values safety as the top priority for the safety of workers and accident prevention. In addition to jointly building safety facilities, we will continue to improve hazardous risk factors in the workplace to fulfill our social responsibility as a telecommunications company and continue to strengthen our cooperative relationship in the safety and health field.”