IG Inspection Finds Numerous Safety Violation in USFK Housing
Apparently a number of on-post housing for US servicemembers in Korea are not up to standard:
An Inspector General’s report has cited hundreds of potentially dangerous housing code violations, ranging from missing sprinkler systems to exposed copper wiring, in U.S. military housing in South Korea, although only 11 were considered serious.
Most of the violations were related to inadequate upkeep of housing facilities, according to the Oct. 28 report, which found that “housing visits and inspections were not being conducted in accordance with established instructions and procedures.”
Twelve percent of the occupied buildings at 13 U.S. Forces Korea military installations — ranging from family housing to barracks and dormitories for unaccompanied servicemembers — were reviewed during the IG’s March 10 to April 24 inspections. The checks found 646 deficiencies in 277 units, mechanical rooms and common areas.
The 11 “critical” deficiencies included an out-of-service fire alarm system at U.S. Army Garrison Yongsan, which left the occupants of one building with no means of fire detection. Furnaces in two other buildings at the Seoul base were leaking heating oil onto an electric blower motor, posing a fire hazard. [Stars & Stripes]
You can read more at the link, but I have lived in quonset huts and crackhouses in Korea before so what servicemembers have to day is much better than just a decade ago. With that said the real concern I have is how come the fire departments are not doing regular inspections of these facilities to ensure they are safe? If they are then why did they not catch these issues beforehand? Why did it take an IG inspection to find these deficiencies?
Don’t worry about every os moving to cp Humphreys in 2012…..
Are you aware of any health issues or concerns resulting from military personnel living in qunaset huts in Koea in 1977 -1978.
Has the Agent Orange well dried up?
When you drive by Collier Field House and see scaffolding all around the outside of it for a remodeling project, it makes you wonder if Yongsan is ever going to move.
If I found the site manager of the remodeling and asked, “Why are we wasting money refurbishing this gym when we are moving down to Humphreys soon?” I would be willing to GUARANTEE that his response would be something along the lines of, “Well, with the cost-sharing agreement we have with the Koreans, they’re covering 40% of this. So it really isn’t costing us that much.”