Implementation of Customized Inspections Using Advanced Equipment
Prevention-Focused Policies Reduce Violation Rates
The Yeongsangang River Basin Environmental Office is shifting from an enforcement-centered approach to environmental inspections to a system that encourages companies to take the initiative in protecting the environment themselves.
On April 28, the Yeongsangang River Basin Environmental Office under the Ministry of Environment announced that it is conducting year-round customized inspections for more than 4,000 environmental management sites in the Gwangju, Jeonnam, and Jeju regions. These inspections reflect seasonal environmental pollution risk factors, focusing on key areas such as air quality during the spring fine dust season, wastewater discharge facilities during the monsoon season, and chemical safety in the summer.
The Yeongsangang office has established a "prevention first, inspection later" system, aiming to reduce the burden on companies and business owners while still upholding the principles of environmental protection. To this end, before conducting on-site inspections, the office provides customized training on legal violations and compliance requirements from the past three years, thereby enhancing the capacity of businesses to voluntarily comply with environmental laws through autonomous environmental management.
The inspection methods have also been diversified. Businesses with no recent history of violations are subject to written self-inspections, while those with a record of legal violations or newly established businesses are subject to strengthened on-site management. If the results of self-inspections indicate a risk of environmental accidents, special on-site inspections follow.
When conducting on-site inspections, advanced equipment such as drones, mobile air quality measurement vehicles, and OGI (Optical Gas Imaging) cameras are deployed. If violations are identified, immediate corrective action is required, and technical support is provided in cooperation with specialized agencies if necessary.
Kim Youngwoo, head of the office, stated, "We will strengthen preventive, proactive environmental services to enable companies to practice environmentally friendly management on their own initiative."
Meanwhile, the Yeongsangang office applied this approach to certain industries with high violation rates last year, such as waste management and painting businesses, reducing the violation rate from 48.7% in the first half of the year to 17.6% in the second half.
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