Seah Besteel develops AI safety solution trained on 6 million real-world steel plant scenarios

Seah Besteel announced Monday that it has completed development of a customized AI safety solution tailored for steel manufacturing facilities and will move to upgrade its safety management operations.

The company worked with Everguard, an AI and computer-vision safety solutions firm, to analyze about 6 million real-world steel plant scenarios over the past four years and conduct field validation. Seah Besteel said the process allowed it to build up AI safety data specific to steel manufacturing, which involves a high number of variables.

The company has divided its core processes into 250 zones and plans to roll out and stabilize the solution across key operations — including steelmaking and large-scale forging — at its Gunsan and Changnyeong factories by the first half of next year.

Seah Besteel said conventional solutions focused mainly on basic access detection had struggled to keep pace with the constantly shifting hazards in steel plants, where large equipment and cranes operate in close proximity amid heavy noise. The new solution integrates with factory equipment control systems (PLCs) to assess conditions in real time. It triggers alarms only when workers approach a danger zone where equipment is actually running, improving system reliability, and predicts crane movement paths to issue advance warnings against collision and falling-object accidents.

After the solution is applied to core processes, the company expects to advance to a "control" stage — where the system immediately halts equipment upon detecting a serious hazard — through further upgrades that would broaden the scope of safety management.

The development is part of Seah Besteel's ongoing investment in building accident-free workplaces. Since 2023, the company has committed about 250 billion won ($186 million) to four initiatives: establishing an integrated safety, health and environment management system; operating and expanding a dedicated 24-hour safety management team; reinforcing safety facilities across its worksites; and building hands-on safety training centers for employees and in-house contractors.

"Steel plants are among the most challenging environments for applying AI safety technology, given the countless situational variables involved," a Seah Besteel official said. "Having completed an AI safety solution purpose-built for steel processes based on four years of field validation data, we will make sure the rollout to our major factories in the first half of next year goes smoothly and devote every effort to advancing our safety management."

Meanwhile, Seah Besteel recently signed an MOU with BWXT Canada, a nuclear power plant manufacturing and engineering company, to explore expanded cooperation in nuclear manufacturing.

The agreement aims to address growing demand for nuclear plant components driven by new construction of large reactors and small modular reactors, as well as life extensions of existing nuclear power plants. The two companies agreed to explore cooperation in supplying high-value-added components, including forgings for nuclear applications. Through the partnership, Seah Besteel aims to strengthen its position as a partner in the global nuclear manufacturing supply chain.