The contribution of the oil and gas industry towards global economy is not unknown. Despite its great importance, the oil and gas industry is considered as one of the most safety-compromised industries due to the great number of risks that are involved in the oil and gas job sites.Although in the recent times strict safety practices and vigilant safety monitoring is been undertaken in the oil and gas industry, yet safety in oil & gas is not fully assured.

There are several safety issues prevailing in the oil & gas industry.Some major ones being: confined space accidents, vehicle collision, fall from height (FFH), fires &explosions, stuck-by/ caught-in/ caught-between machinery/objects, hazardous gas leak,ergonomic hazards, and electrical/ mechanical/ hydraulic danger zone intrusion.

In this regard however, the safety inspection software for oil and gas industry has been emerging as a great helping hand to the stakeholders of oil and gas industry. This software generally makes use of video analytics for workplace safety to offer a smart site safety system (SSSS) that can identify, detect, alert and thus,boost safety in oil & gas industry.One such example of a safety inspection software for oil and gas industry is by viAct, Hong Kong that leverages the power of AI video analytics to offer a smart site safety system (SSSS) that can help mitigate the major safety issues in the industry in following ways:

1. Confined Space Safety System: The confined space safety system offered by the safety inspection software for oil & gas can undertake real-time monitoring of the confined space works and ensure safety in confined spaces through a wide number of applicationslike extreme temperature alert in storages during maintenance tasks, fire & smoke detection in oil storage tanks, PPE detection while hydraulic fracturing, and such others.

2. AI-powered Solutions for Preventing Stuck-by/Caught-in/ Caught-between Machinery/Objects: Using AI for workplace safety, the safety inspection software for oil & gas industry can also help prevent incidents related to struck-by/ caught-in/ caught-between machinery/object. Applications such as real-time work monitoring of high-pressure line repairs; PPE monitoring while hoisting, lifting & rigging of equipment; danger zone alert system for generating intrusion alerts for high-risk areas like rotating systems or spinning chains are great examples of how the smart site safety system can prevent struck-by/ caught-in/ caught-between machinery/object.

3. Vehicle Collision Prevention: Accidents caused by vehicle collision is another major safety issue in oil & gas industry. However, the AI powered machinery and vehicle monitoring solution can help in reducing vehicle collision related accidents through dangerous situation alert system for on-site human-vehicle-object collision alerts, operator’s distraction detection, real-time vehicle tagging to track vehicles breaking down midways, real-time on road fleet management to prevent on-road collisions, vehicle/ machinery productivity monitoring and such others. Apart from these, fleet management records saved in the centralized management platform can facilitate preventive maintenance of entire workflow.

4. Preventing Falls from Height (FFHs): The safety inspection software can also undergo work at height safety monitoring to prevent incidents of falling from height or slips, trips and falls (STFs) in the oil & gas jobsite. The behavioural based workplace safety monitoring solution can detect workers’ improper behaviour while working at height and immediately sent out unsafe act detection alert so that the stakeholders can undertaken necessary actions immediately to prevent falls. Similarly, the smart AI monitoring system can detect and alert about missing life-saving ropes while climbing elevated areas, PPE non-compliance during equipment maintenance at elevations, detect tilting motion of climbing platform and improper barrier/ no barrier. All these help the stakeholders to monitor work at height safety and thus prevent falls from height in oil & gas jobsites.

5. Detecting & Preventing Ergonomic Hazards: The dynamic AI monitoring solution can leverage the power of video analytics for workplace safety andprevent ergonomic hazards in oil & gas industry through: confined space work monitoring while working in noxious pits, workers’ real-time monitoring while working in extreme temperature zones, work at height monitoring to prevent dangerous work position at height and workers’ training and awareness using recoded data in the centralized management system for workplaces.

Apart from above, the smart safety inspection software for oil & gas industry can also detect and alert smoke & fire at their very onset, as well as detect hazardous gas leak in the jobsite, thus, helping assure holistic safety in the oil & gas industry.

Also Read:

• How Can Smart Site Safety System Improve Safety Performance of Jobsites in Hong Kong?

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