Astana prosecutors use drones to find unsafe building sites and illegal digging

Prosecutors in Astana are using drones to spot safety violations on building sites, check whether construction is legal and record illegal extraction of soil, the city administration said. By early November more than 30 breaches of safety and labour protection rules had been found.

Ansat Sailaubek of the Nura district prosecutor's office said aerial monitoring lets inspectors record violations without visiting a site, including in hard-to-reach places. Raids found workers without protective equipment, dangerous areas without fences and unsafe work at height.

Aerial images are also used to find where building is under way before documents are checked, and drones watch for illegal digging by day and night, recording excavators and lorries taking soil away.