'Drone Enforcement Team' Takes Focused Management on Fine Dust Emission Sites

Inspection of Emission Facilities and Construction Sites During Seasonal Management Period... Utilizing Advanced Equipment Such as Drones

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Cheol-young] The Seoul Metropolitan Government will work to reduce fine dust emissions in the construction and industrial sectors during the fine dust seasonal management period until March next year.

On the 9th, Seoul announced that it will inspect areas densely populated with emission facilities using advanced equipment such as drones and mobile measurement vehicles, and form joint inspection teams to intensively manage all emission business sites. Joint inspections will be conducted with the Seoul Metropolitan Air Quality Management Office for areas densely populated with small-scale business sites and large-scale construction sites subject to environmental impact assessments. Using advanced equipment such as drones and mobile measurement vehicles, pollutants will be measured, and suspected areas where high concentrations of pollutants occur will be identified for on-site inspections by enforcement teams.

Seoul will organize five teams consisting of 55 groups from the Civil Life Judicial Police, the Health and Environment Research Institute, and autonomous districts to conduct ▲ customized on-site inspections of air pollution emission business sites ▲ and full inspections of construction sites generating scattered dust. If violations are detected, a zero-tolerance policy will be applied, including prosecution, fines, or administrative measures.

In particular, for emission business sites operating unauthorized painting facilities or not properly operating prevention facilities, a joint special crackdown team between the city and districts will be formed for intensive enforcement. Unauthorized painting facilities refer to places that paint automobiles, etc., without permission or reporting to the autonomous district. If caught, offenders may face imprisonment of up to 5 to 7 years or fines ranging from 50 million to 100 million KRW.

Furthermore, during the fine dust seasonal management period, large-scale emission business sites in Seoul will voluntarily reduce pollutant emissions. In addition, eco-friendly construction sites will be piloted for private large-scale construction sites (with a total floor area of 10,000㎡), implementing management measures that are more stringent than existing scattered dust regulations. Outstanding construction sites will be awarded commendations from the mayor and district heads, with plans to expand the eco-friendly construction site model to all construction sites in the future.

Hadongjun, Director of the Air Policy Division of Seoul, said, “We will make further efforts to reduce the occurrence of high-concentration fine dust by intensively managing the main sources of fine dust in the industrial and construction sectors during the seasonal management period,” and added, “We ask the public to actively report any business sites or construction sites suspected of generating air pollutants around their living areas.”