ABU DHABI, 29th September, 2016 (WAM) --- Emirates Steel, the only integrated steel plant in the UAE and a subsidiary of industrial conglomerate, Senaat, is using a groundbreaking inspection technique utilising unmanned aerial vehicles (UAV), or drones, in its annual safety and maintenance inspections, the company announced on Thursday.

The move enables Emirates Steel to track and analyse maintenance risks and plan a customised repair programme in a safer mode avoiding possible shutdowns, the company said in a press release.

The drone technology helped avoid a five-day shutdown in the company's direct-reduction plants (DRP), typically required to inspect live flares.

The company described the move as a major step towards achieving increased plant availability and maintaining efficient production through a regular maintenance programme based on reliability, risk inspection in line with its maintenance strategy.

Saeed Ghumran Al Remeithi, CEO of Emirates Steel said, "We are keen to adopt the latest approaches and advanced technologies to ensure reliability of our assets operations and manufacturing processes, and to achieve the highest standards of asset integrity. Emirates Steel is one of the first regional and local industrial groups that has utilised unmanned aerial vehicle in such inspections."

Copyright Emirates News Agency (WAM) 2016.