Dongbu is turning to unmanned automated drones and artificial intelligence to digitize safety management at its construction sites. Drones patrol sites automatically while AI analyzes the footage to identify hazards in advance.
Dongbu said on the 2nd that it developed smart safety management functions tailored to construction sites with Meissa, a spatial AI company, and applied them at three projects: the new Baekam logistics center for Ottogi Logistics Service, Section 3-1 of the dredged soil disposal site at Jinhae New Port, and the A-25BL private-participation public housing site in Wangsuk, Namyangju.
Starting with this pilot rollout, the company plans to make the system mandatory from 2027 at sites with construction costs of 220 billion won or more, and to extend it to all sites by 2029.
The unmanned automated drone station takes off, flies and lands on its own along a preset route without an operator, filming the site as it goes. The video and photos collected are analyzed on a dedicated platform to track in real time whether non-workers have entered heavy equipment operating zones and where high-risk and vulnerable workers are located.
AI vision technology also automatically checks whether workers are wearing hard hats and high-visibility vests and whether their safety harnesses are fastened. The footage is also used to build three-dimensional renderings of the site, allowing managers to review construction progress, work interference between subcontractors and potential hazards.
The company plans to link orthophotos taken by the drones with an AI-based risk assessment system to analyze the level of risk for each task, then deliver information on major high-risk work and response measures to managers and workers in tailored form.
"The unmanned drone station and the AI platform are drawing attention not simply as a way to film sites but as a practical safety management tool that identifies and responds to hazards in advance," a Dongbu official said. "We will strengthen site monitoring and data-based safety management to build smart construction sites where workers can feel more secure."
