Steel structure construction is currently increasing on account of the many merits of steel structures. Due to numerous environmental factors, many cracks and extensive corrosion occur in steel structures, which cause the deterioration of the performance and life cycle of such structures. Maintenance of steel structures is thus strongly demanded, for safety control. The inspection methods that are currently being used, however, are very limited and can detect only local defects in steel structures. They also take much time to use and incur high maintenance costs. Moreover, such methods cannot be applied to huge steel structures, which men find unapproachable. They also require much time due to the need for periodic checks, and may lead to cost loss. Therefore, the development of a monitoring system that can detect defects in whole structures and can reduce the repair and strengthening costs at an early stage is very much needed. In this study, the generation and propagation of cracks were monitored via the electric-potential-drop method (EPDM).