ETRI-National Safety Management Institute, Construction Site Accident Rate
Building a national safety infrastructure with a 25% reduction goal
Achieving the Digital New Deal through IoT Control Systems


Recently, construction site accidents have become more frequent due to human vulnerability caused by the aging of domestic construction site workers and the increasing proportion of foreign workers, as well as physical vulnerability caused by temporary facilities installed during construction.

The Electronics and Telecommunications Research Institute (ETRI) announced on the 29th that it will collaborate with the Korea Safety Management Corporation (KSM) to develop an integrated control system for construction site safety. The KSM, newly launched in December after changing its name from the Korea Infrastructure Safety and Health Agency, is an organization responsible for managing the safety of facilities throughout their entire lifecycle.

As part of its smart construction technology development project, ETRI plans to develop a system for on-site safety by providing an edge computing platform for on-site control, with the goal of reducing the accident rate at construction sites by 25%.

First, the research team will introduce IoT and image analysis-based control technology to construction sites and develop a safety management system based on construction progress.

We also decided to install sensors throughout the construction site and build a system to collect and analyze data. Through this, we plan to monitor in real time the tilt displacement of the structure, the collapse of the earth retaining wall, and the presence of ground subsidence based on intelligent sensors and CCTV.

We also develop an edge computing platform that analyzes safety based on diverse data from construction sites and monitors and assesses urgent safety accidents in real time.

Meanwhile, ETRI is also collaborating with the National Security Agency on "digitalization of social overhead capital (SOC) for national safety," one of the ten key tasks of the Korean New Deal. This effort aims to establish an efficient disaster prevention and response system by building an intelligent control system, including IoT sensors, intelligent CCTV, and wireless networks, to ensure public safety and a convenient lifestyle.

To build an IoT-based digital management system, it is necessary to integrate SOC data accumulated at the National Security Agency, ETRI's edge computing, 5G and IoT communication technologies, and digital twin technology.

To this end, ETRI signed a business cooperation agreement with the Korea Land and Infrastructure Safety and Technology Institute (KIST) on national social overhead capital (SOC) technology. This collaboration is part of the Ministry of Land, Infrastructure and Transport's "Development of Smart Construction Technology through Road Demonstration" project, and the two organizations will conduct research and development until 2025.