Are ventilation grates safe?

A man walks on a grate over a subway ventilation shaft in Busan, Monday. Most ventilation grates linked to subway stations in metropolitan cities are designed for pedestrian use. / Yonhap

By Kim Se-jeong

Concern is rising over the safety of ventilation grates above subway stations in Seoul and other metropolitan cities following a tragedy in Pangyo, Gyeonggi Province, Friday.

Most of these grates are installed beside or on sidewalks in cities.

For example, out of a total of 2,418 ventilation grates in Seoul, 74 percent, or 1,777, are set up on the sidewalks to enable people to walk on them, according to the Seoul Metropolitan Government (SMG), Monday.

The city government says that they are “deemed safe” to walk on.

“The ventilation grates are designed for pedestrian use,” said one SMG official. “One square meter of grate is designed to endure at least 500 kilograms.”

However, the Pangyo tragedy, in which 16 people died when a ventilation grate collapsed during an outdoor pop concert, has triggered the concerns.

Shin Chang-yi, 44, now avoids walking on ventilation grates outside a subway station.

“I’m afraid to walk on it, we need a safety fence around it or it should be made more durable, so that it won’t collapse like the one in Pangyo,” Shin said outside Jongno 3-ga Station in Seoul, Sunday, looking at the grate built into the pedestrian street.

Park Gyeong-duk, 48, agrees.

“I never cared much about ventilation grates, but after the Pangyo incident, I try to avoid them altogether,” Park said.

The safety of ventilation grates was a hot issue during a National Assembly audit into SMG, Monday.

Members of the ruling Saenuri Party grilled Mayor Park Won-soon over the city’s safety measures regarding the grates.

“What happened in Pangyo was a wake-up call for us. Seoul city is conducting an inspection of the grates around the city,” the mayor said.

An SMG official downplayed safety concerns, saying building codes and safety requirements for subway stations are far stricter than places like Pangyo Techno Valley, where the collapse happened.

To address public anxiety, Seoul Metropolitan Rapid Transit Corporation (SMRTC), which operates subway lines five through eight, put up 900 warning signs around grates on Monday. “If public concern persists, we will install a fence around them,” said one SMRTC official.

Building experts called for strict and unified safety rules for the ventilation grates.

“Ventilation grates have no unified rules in how and where they are installed,” said Prof. Kim Keun-young who teaches engineering at Gangnam University.

The SMG will conduct a safety check of subway ventilation grates and other ventilation facilities and by the end of this week will draw up safety guidelines, city officials said.

In order to prevent a similar accident, the city government also plans to conduct safety checks on public outdoor performance facilities.