Ensuring Safety of Oil and Gas Workers
Magellan X’s worker safety solution offers near realtime visibility to front line safety operations, which enhances worker situational awareness and compliance assurance
Studies have shown that as many as 80 to 90% of serious injuries and accidents are attributed to human error due to workers not following procedures, the design of work environments, or lack of situational awareness among workers. To meaningfully reduce safety incidents and accidents, heavy industries like oil and gas must focus on equipping workers with the right tools and systems. This will enable a combination of worker empowerment and operational excellence for addressing human factors.
SOL-X Worker Safety Solution is an industry-leading connected worker platform that addresses issues brought about by human factors. It combines enhanced Control Of Work with a holistic approach to worker wellbeing (Crew Protect), enabled by IIoT and analytics. Our solution addresses industry pain points such as limited visibility for compliance, highly administrative and manual paperwork, limited situational awareness and more. This SOL-X solution is compatible with major connectivity protocols such as Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and Long-Range Bluetooth.
SOL-X Control Of Work provides an integrated software with streamlined workflows (permits, risk assessments, safety checklists). The technology offers near realtime visibility to front line safety operations, which enhances worker situational awareness and compliance assurance of having the right person, at the right location and at the right time working on the correct task.
SOL-X Crew Protect solution empowers workers to take ownership and accountability of their health and safety while encouraging positive behaviour change. In addition, we enable supervisors to proactively manage their workers’ workload and fatigue risk while enhancing worker wellbeing through the SOL-X SmartWatch.
Operational compliance previously relied on manual observations and human interventions. The SmartWatch allows the approach to be digitalised and automated in near real time. It enables visibility of worker movements, which is important during hazardous tasks and in high-risk zones such as enclosed spaces. Accidents at restricted work zones can also be reduced via usage of the SmartWatch, with workers receiving contextual warnings (GeoFence Alerts) in near real time when they approach these areas.
When workers need assistance, they can access the SmartWatch’s Crew Assist function that helps to contact their supervisor and immediately provide their location and task details. This speeds up response times, which is especially crucial for workers who sustain injuries while working in an isolated or remote location. The SOL-X SmartWatch also has a Fall Detection feature that sends a message to the Dashboard in near realtime when a fall is detected.
Timely communication is critical in cases of emergency, and to ensure that operations are performed effectively without compromising workers’ safety. Supervisors in control rooms can easily disseminate crucial information by using the dashboard to send a broadcast message to the workers on their smart watches.
In addition, the SmartWatch monitors the worker’s heart rate and issues heart rate alerts when triggered, notifying the worker to hydrate and rest. The SOL-X SmartWatch also has a Noise Monitoring and Alerts feature which triggers when workers are exposed to consistently high noise levels.
The typical working environment in oil and gas industries may at times expose workers to extremely hot working conditions, resulting in heat injuries. The SOL-X SmartWatch provides heat stress alerts for the worker to take necessary steps to avoid or mitigate heat-induced injuries if the SmartWatch detects that the worker has been exposed to a dangerous level of heat over a sustained period. On the other end of the spectrum, the SmartWatch also monitors and notifies the worker with cold alerts to take the necessary precautions when he is exposed to cold temperature for at least 15 minutes.
The watch also allows workers to conveniently record and track their work rest hours, enabling supervisors to more effectively balance worker workload and ensure fatigue levels are well managed across the workers. By doing so, the risk of accidents resulting from fatigue declines.
Lastly, the Fitness Tracker feature in the SmartWatch tracks daily steps and promotes healthy living. This data can be used to more effectively measure and track efficacy of Corporate Wellness programmes.
“At Magellan X, we are committed to providing a solution that ensures safety by anticipating incidents and accidents. We continue to innovate on our connected worker platform and the new features on fall detection, broadcast message and noise monitoring and alerts will further improve situational awareness for workers and operational visibility for supervisors on site.” Alister Leong, Chief Product Officer of Magellan X
Many organisations have implemented Control Of Work systems in a bid to resolve their operational issues, but many of these existing solutions are addressing these issues in isolation. To effectively maximise the benefits of a Control Of Work system, each worker within the worksite must be in a physically and mentally fit state.
However, current work practices and methods do not sufficiently combat the problems and effects of worker fatigue and concentration lapses, and that inevitably undermines the efficacy of the Control Of Work systems. The key to truly unlock operational excellence is enhancing the wellbeing of the workers. Digitalising and reducing manual processes while automating repetitive tasks can materially help save workers’ time, reduce their workload, and improve worker welfare.
Investing in smart worksite technology will improve operational visibility, situational awareness, and more efficient workflow management. On the AI front, leading indicators around operational excellence and safety compliance will enable more pre-emptive actions and proactive improvements to safety management systems. Our solution allows businesses to optimise their workflow processes, enhances compliance and delivers proactive worker behavioural change at the worksite.