In the ever-evolving landscape of industrial safety, where precision and timeliness are non-negotiable, remote gas detection has emerged as a critical technology. As industries such as petrochemical, oil & gas, energy, chemical, waste, and marine continue to advance, the need to protect lives from the unseen threats of hazardous gases becomes paramount. In this blog, we explore how remote gas detection plays a pivotal role in saving lives and enhancing overall safety protocols.
The Top Hazards During a Turnaround and How to Increase Safety
Confined Spaces: The Silent Danger
Confined spaces, such as tanks, vessels, and storage bins, pose a significant risk during turnarounds. Limited entry and exit points, coupled with potentially hazardous atmospheres, make confined spaces a silent danger.
To mitigate this hazard, the adoption of digital confined space monitoring solutions is crucial. Real-time camera monitoring, remote gas detection, two-way communication systems, and access control units streamline safety protocols, providing continuous insights and early hazard detection.
AOG Energy is held annually in the energy hub of Australia, Perth. For over 40 years it has bought the entire oil, gas and energy supply chain together as a platform for discovering innovation, capabilities and opportunities, supported by major operators, government and industry. In 2024, VISICS will be represented at this innovative event as well. You’ll find us at booth J30 in the Health & Safety zone.
VISICSMeet VISICS at AOG Energy ’24 in Perth – stand J30
Most Asked Questions About Digitalizing Confined Space Monitoring
In the dynamic landscape of industrial maintenance, the digitalization of confined space monitoring has emerged as a pivotal strategy for enhancing safety and operational efficiency. As companies explore the possibilities offered by advanced technologies, several questions arise. Here, we address the most commonly asked questions about digitalizing confined space monitoring.
VISICSFAQ’s Digitalizing Confined Space Monitoring
The CLR (Contamination Land & Remediation Expo) as part of the ESS 2023 will take place at NEC Birmingham on September 13 – 14, 2023. Supporting their UK partner LRES-UK, Access Technology Group will be there to promote and demonstrate their innovative and cost-efficient VISICS solutions to improve safety and efficiency of workers during maintenance activities.
The yearly Contamination & Land Remediation Expo is a must if you are dealing with contamination, remediation and everything in between. All aspects of contaminated sites, soils and materials, brownfield regeneration, management of hazardous substances, biodiversity and natural capital, analysis and laboratories and consulting services are covered.
India, February 2023 – VISICS was implemented at the YARA fertiliser plant in Uttar Pradesh, India, to achieve real-time confined space monitoring across three tower locations during their 30-day outage with additional monitoring stations for managers to have an overview of the work being performed.
The answer is YES. It must be! We have created our system with industrial grade materials to ensure the production of accurate, highly informative real-time feedback during dangerous and varying turnaround conditions anywhere on the globe.
In this video, you can see our VISICS equipment being tested for water resistance. This innovative field test ran for 21 days and nights to confirm that we are providing reliable safety equipment. Experimental testing isn’t all we’ve done though.
Our systems are used internationally- in over 15 different countries year-round, so they have proven successful in several environmental situations. This includes weather conditions such as snow in Canada and Sweden, extreme heat in Kazakhstan, rain and humidity in the gulf of the United States and more. The hardware that we rely on to keep our equipment weatherproof includes high quality, specially designed industrial connectors and rubber seals that keep water and other elements from contacting the electronics inside. Our technology is designed specifically for heavy industries, with their challenges and applications in mind.
Would you like to put it to the test for yourself? We recommend setting up a pilot to see it live and in action! For more information on our pilot program, reach out to us via the contact form or contact your area representative directly.
VISICS equipment being tested for water resistance over a period of 21 days
The VISICS Reporting Tool is a web-based safety application built specifically for the needs and challenges faced during turnarounds, shutdowns and outages.
The Reporting Tool digitalizes turnaround reporting with an easy-to-use application allowing safety managers and other stakeholders to have greater insight into their operations. Utilizing the VISICS Reporting Tool allows users to generate detailed digital reports (incident, shift or DOR reports), investigate noted events, identify safety bottlenecks, track critical project data and more.
Problems Solved
In the traditional way of working, shift data is paper-based, meaning information is recorded on paper, collected and then manually analyzed to determine critical information such as project progress/timeline and safety trends.
Utilizing paper in the industrial workplace naturally means:
information gets damaged – environmental conditions, water, dirt, etc.
information is wrongly documented – human error in reporting or reading reports
inability to analyze data – in a timely manner, with evidence of claims
process inefficiency – time-consuming, repetitive work
To combat these challenges, the Reporting Tool boasts features such as:
Standard digital reporting forms, stored centrally
Safety observation tally, to track safety infractions and identify bottlenecks (i.e missing gloves, missing helmet, etc)
Project information dashboard, an overview of the most critical project data such as special PPE requirements
The VISICS Reporting tool is now available for all VISICS projects, worldwide.
To request the Reporting Tool for your next project, contact:
Finding the right personnel to work in high risk industries is becoming increasingly difficult for managers these days. Why not use technology to improve safety and efficiency? The innovative solution called Digital Confined Space Solution we offer that reduces the labor burden while improving monitoring capabilities.
For years prior to the pandemic, energy sector observers warned of the need to attract and retain a skilled workforce. In 2019, the Global Energy Talent Index reported that labor shortages continued to grow due to multiple factors, including retirement and job shifts to more attractive sectors. COVID-19 only made matters worse as workers left the workforce with no intention of returning.
Technology to the Rescue
But like many other challenges posed by the COVID pandemic, labor ambiguity, costs and security measures can all be addressed with digital technologies that allow for greater flexibility, fewer staff and greater efficiency. Take, for example, Digital Confined Space Monitoring (DCSM). Traditionally, confined space surveillance is performed with one security officer monitoring one confined space (ratio 1-1)
Due to a lack of information from the inside of the confined space and historical working methods, traditional security guards are limited in their ability to act. Should an accident occur in a confined space, there are few resources to alert contractors inside and little information available to guide rescue personnel. This also makes it difficult to concretely identify the incident and learn from it.
With these working methods, sites planning for turnarounds must account for not only one safety attendant to every confined space, but also for standby firewatchers and rescue personnel, all whilst needing to reduce headcount, contact, and costs in the growing wake of the labor shortage. This is just a fraction of the new challenges faced by turnaround planners. So, how can contractors, planners, and operators emerge as industry leaders post-pandemic? Well, now, more than ever, may be the time for energy industries to seize digitalization opportunities.
Setting goals
To find solutions to labor shortage challenges, the first step is to identify your objectives. Common objectives shared amid the growing labor shortage during the global pandemic include:
Cutting costs.
Increasing efficiency.
Decreasing headcount.
Increasing safety.
These objectives can seem contradictory at first, especially when applying traditional business rationale, but when innovative thinking is applied and technology is factored in, the possibilities are endless. The trick is to simplify what your tangible objectives are. Digitalization, data, and technology can all be intimidating and complicated words—the results should not be. When thinking back to the example of confined space monitoring, achieving the mentioned objectives under today’s pressures can be relatively simple with DCSM technology.
VISICS is the state-of-the-art and digital solution for increased safety during maintenance turnarounds and shutdowns. Being one of the top innovations in the safety industry, VISICS answers to the demands of enterprises worldwide looking for increased safety levels at lower cost.
Tim.hup@access-technology.nl, +31 6 28 43 87 46
Darrell.dowd@access-technology.nl, +49 176 77 25 66 10
