The current Act prescribes that a special fire safety inspection shall be performed by a fire officer, when it is necessary on certain grounds, through the process of selecting targets for inspection conducted by the Administrator of the National Fire Agency, etc.

On this front, it has been suggested that there is a need to strengthen fire safety inspection of facilities mainly used by people with disabilities and other vulnerable persons by specifying the relevant matters as grounds for conducting a special fire safety inspection, as facilities mainly used by people with disabilities, older persons, pregnant women, infants and children, and other persons with restricted mobility are highly likely to suffer casualties in case of fire.

On another note, the current Act obligates the interested person of a specific fire-fighting object to regularly conduct in-house inspections of fire-fighting systems installed in such object, or arrange inspections conducted by a management service provider or qualified technical expert.

However, inspections conducted by an interested person of a specific fire-fighting object are likely to lack objectivity and adequacy, and critics have pointed out that even an in-house inspection should be conducted only by a management service provider or qualified technical expert with fire safety expertise. It is also necessary to mandate prompt repair or improvement on significant risk factors by amending provisions currently stipulating that inspection results shall be submitted to a fire station within 30 days.

Accordingly, the Amendment clearly specifies as grounds for conducting a special fire safety inspection cases where a facility is mainly used by people with disabilities, older persons, pregnant women, infants and children, etc., and is deemed highly likely to experience casualties in case of fire. It prescribes that self-inspections by an owner or other interested person shall only be performed by a management service provider or qualified technical expert, and that any significant risk factor specified by the Presidential Decree shall be reported to a fire station immediately upon discovery, thereby enhancing the effectiveness of inspections (Article 4, paragraph 2, subparagraph 6 newly inserted and Article 25).

Prescribe that self-inspections by an owner or other interested person shall only be performed by a management service provider or qualified technical expert, and require any significant risk factor specified by the Presidential Decree to be reported to a fire station immediately upon discovery (Article 25).