“The Second Lotte World” Committed to Safety as Priority One

“The Second Lotte World” Tower under construction in the Jamsil area, Songpa-gu, Seoul includes the integration of the most advanced technologies into what will be the tallest tower in Korea.

The second Lotte World has planned floor area of 87,182 m² (26,373 pyeong) and gross area of 807,508 m² (244,271 pyeong). The gross area of Lotte World Tower is only 328,350.74 m² (99,326.1 pyeong), so it is easy to see that the new tower proudly presents at an enormous scale.

The Second Lotte World construction site where Lotte World Tower and Lotte World Mall, the biggest shopping mall in Korea, will be built requires the daily labor of 8,000 people. Its builder, Lotte E&C, has planned six safely measures to avoid accidents from falling objects during the construction of Lotte World Tower.

Lotte E&C first started a “Protection Screen System” to prevent materials and equipment from falling, and the potential resulting accidents. This system consists of light-gauge metal that can prevent objects from dropping, through which 30 percent of light and wind is passed, while it endures a maximum wind speed of 60 m/s.

Furthermore, in order to enhance the safety of the auto form system, a foreign professional supervisor from DOKA, the supplier, checks and controls the system on-site. Lotte E&C also installed 35 kinds of safety facilities, including vertical protective nets, to guarantee the safety of workers as well as to prevent falling objects and dust. An additional “protection deck” has been built to protect buildings adjacent to Lotte World Tower just in case objects make it even through the other barriers.

Moreover, 6 m safety fences, higher than the legal standard, have been installed around the construction site, and hazard warning sensors have been installed on the tower crane so that an alarm sounds as soon as the crane boom deviates from its designated safety zone.

Lotte World Tower, currently under construction, has secured a satisfactory safe distance around the construction, as streets and roads nearby are 80-95 m away from the construction site. In comparison, the construction site of the One World Trade Center of New York is only 15 to 27 m away from the surrounding roads. Shanghai Tower, 632 m high (128 stories), has a minimum distance of 30 and maximum 632 m from the surrounding sidewalks.

The legal inspection criteria for heavy machinery is once every six months, but the Lotte Word Tower site is inspected once a month by third-party inspectors.

Shin Dong-bin, chairman of the Lotte Group, emphasized when he visited the Lotte World Tower construction site on May 11, “Safety should be the number one priority for any decision-making on the site.” He put safety as the top priority and requested to maintain an accident-free site.

In particular, fire precautions are outstanding. At Lotte World Tower and the Lotte World Mall in Jamsil, more than 160,000 sprinklers and 30,000 fire detectors will be installed to thoroughly prepare for any fire accidents. A 60 minute long water supply, three times longer than the ordinary building standard of 20 minutes, will be installed in case of any fire. Sprinklers will work through emergency power generators even during a blackout.

Lotte World Tower is designed so that, in case of fire, people could evacuate to safety zones within a maximum of 15 minutes by installing five safety zones on each of a total of 20 stories. People could quickly evacuate by moving to such safety zones through escape elevators, which are safe even in case of fire, or special fire escape stairs.

The Lotte World Tower site is too high for the city’s fire engines to reach, so the company has created its own fire extinguishing system. The building has its own fire engines under operation at the site, and within one minute workers can access one of over 10,000 fire extinguishers installed all over the site. Fire protectors, engine pump sprays, and moving sprinkler trucks are also in place for fast initial reactions, which is not the norm for construction sites.