Korea Elevator Safety Institute (K.E-safe) President Kong Chang-seug. 

Elevators have become the most commonly used mode of transportation in people’s everyday lives. Currently, some 530,000 elevators are in operation across the nation. If an elevator accident takes place, it could lead to multiple casualties, so consistent management and checks into elevators are mandatory. 

Korea Elevator Safety Institute (K.E-safe) is a semi-governmental institution founded in 1992 to systematically manage elevator safety.

One of K.E-safe’s major policy tasks is to offer customer services equal to those of the private sector and enhance safety management levels. As part of efforts to become a world leader in elevator safety, K.E-safe has expanded the conventional Public Service Center into the Elevator Integration Public Service Center. The newly expanded center, jointly operated by K.E-safe and the Ministry of Public Safety and Security, is designed to offer one-stop services as soon as all public service documents are filed up. 

K.E-safe’s efforts to improve public satisfaction are extraordinary. K.E-safe has secured a regime in which customer satisfaction levels of all inspections are confirmed in real time through so-called Safety Happy Call, and they are reflected to all duties. 

As part of efforts to beef up education on elevator safety for children, K.E-safe provides support for the establishment of elevator simulators at the Gyeonggi-do Kids Experience & Education Institute in cooperation with Korea Children Safety Foundation. 

K.E-safe is now accelerating efforts to upgrade its main task of ensuring elevator safety management. In particular, the institute is introducing a so-called Korean-style smart inspection system in which K.E-safe shifts the inspection paradigm from the conventional system involving desk-bound inspectors’ handling of documents to one in which inspectors use smart gadgets on the scene. The new method is evaluated to contribute to enhancing inspection efficiency as well as customer satisfaction.

K.E-safe ‘s major tasks are as follows: legal elevator safety inspection: education, and publishing and promotion for elevator safety survey; research and technological development; development and training of technical workforce; integrated management of elevator safety information; international exchange and cooperation; and diagnosis, supervision and consultations on elevators, escalators and mechanical parking systems in compliance with the Elevator Facilities Safety Management Act.

True to the catchphrase “Development of the elevator industry Ensures Safety,” K.E-safe and the Ministry of Public Safety and Security jointly host the International Life Expo Korea biennially in order to help Korean companies make inroads into foreign markets. 

“Safety has become the most important issue of society overall enough to establish the Ministry of Public Safety and Security,” said K.E-safe President Kong Chang-seug. “Our executives and staff members will do their best to make people feel at home by elevating elevator safety to the world’s best levels.”

 K.E-safe crew members fix up a failed elevator.(Photos:K.E-safe)

International Lift Expo Korea 2014

Attracts 120 exhibitor companies, including Hyundai Elevator, Otis, and Thyssaen Krupp, as well as 23,000 spectators.

The International Life Expo Korea 2014 took place at the COEX in Seoul for as four-day run from Oct. 28-31, serving as a good opportunity to enhance public awareness toward the safety of elevators and to promote the Korean elevator industry. The expo, hosted by the Ministry of Security and Public Administration (MOSPA) and organized by K.E-safe, showcased the latest technologies, including a twin elevator, a double-deck elevator and a high-speed elevator — as well as an evacuation elevator for blocking smoke inflow at the case of a fire, and such safety technologies as a device designed to prevent reverse operation of escalators.

Korean and foreign lift leaders and SME exhibitors participated in the exhibition to present solutions to the overall trends of the global lift industry. The expo coincided with the international standardization meeting of the ISO/TC 178, WG8, held from Oct. 28 to 30, in which Korea submitted a proposal concerning Korean frequency bands related to the testing of lift radio waves.