| Written by Mark Buzinkay
Integrating transponders into a safety monitoring solution can provide many benefits for companies and their employees. Transponders can provide real-time location information, which can be used to quickly locate and rescue workers who have been injured or trapped in a hazardous environment. Transponders can also be used to track workers' exposure to hazardous materials, allowing companies to better manage and protect their employees. In addition, transponders can help companies comply with safety regulations by providing accurate and up-to-date information on the location of employees. By integrating transponders into a safety monitoring solution, companies can make their workplace safer and more efficient.
What are transponders?
A transponder is a device that emits a signal in response to an interrogation from a reader. Transponders are used in many applications, including contactless access control, animal identification, and personnel tracking. In the context of worker safety, transponders can be used to monitor the location of employees in real-time. This information can be used to quickly locate and rescue workers who have been injured or trapped in a hazardous environment.
Transponders can be integrated into many different types of safety monitoring solutions. For example, some companies use active RFID tags to track the location of their employees. Active RFID tags emit a signal that a reader can detect at a distance of up to 100 meters. This information can be used to track employees' location in real-time and create an electronic fence around a hazard. Other companies use passive RFID tags, which the reader powers. Passive RFID tags have a shorter range than active RFID tags but are less expensive and easier to deploy.
Why use transponders?
There are many benefits to using transponders to monitor worker safety. Transponders can provide real-time location information, which can be used to quickly locate and rescue workers injured or trapped in a hazardous environment. Rescue workers don't have to be sent to areas where no crew is missing, reducing their risk during search and rescue operations. Transponders can also be used to track workers' exposure to hazardous materials, allowing companies to better manage and protect their employees. In addition, transponders can help companies comply with safety regulations by providing accurate and up-to-date information on the location of employees.
When to use transponders?
Transponders can be used in any environment where worker safety is a concern. They are particularly well-suited for environments that are hazardous or difficult to access, such as construction sites, mines, and oil rigs. Transponders can also be used in office buildings and other workplaces where employee safety is a concern.
Many companies are using transponders nowadays to improve worker safety. For example, mining giant LKAB in Sweden uses active RFID tags to track the location of its employees in mines. The company has equipped its employees with personal locator beacons, which emit a signal on the control room monitor to indicate that everybody has arrived at a safety zone before a scheduled blast. Oil and gas companies like Equinor, Maersk Drilling, Modec and many more use RFID tags to track the location of their crew on oil rigs. In the event of an accident, rescue teams are informed in real-time about their whereabouts. The entire crew can be mustered hands-free as it creates a mustering report automatically.
Transponders are becoming increasingly common in the workplace as companies strive to improve worker safety. By integrating transponders into a safety monitoring solution, companies can make their workplace safer and more efficient.
How to integrate safety monitoring into existing systems on offshore platforms?
Worker safety monitoring solutions assist in real-time tracking of crew members' location. In an emergency, this information must be available to the offshore installation manager, the emergency teams, the onshore emergency centre and rescue organizations. Therefore, a viable safety monitoring system should always be available to all parties involved in a rescue operation.
In an emergency, the real-time location of workers must be visible to the local rescue team (e.g., mustering officer, control room operator, and captain of the offshore installation) for informed decision-making. If this information is unavailable, decisions will be delayed, and teams sent out for search-and-rescue missions and evacuation will be endangered. As a result, the risk of injuries and loss of life increases rapidly.
Onshore rescue organizations and the onshore control room coordinating the emergency response will remain in the dark if they can't access this vital information about the worker's whereabouts. Therefore, a link between the locally available real-time data and the onshore system(s) is critical. Communication systems and data uplink must be provided for a local solution to remain useful in the case of a major incident.
Relevant data must also be available for external units involved in rescue operations. For this reason, interfaces between the worker safety monitoring solution and third-party applications are important. A good example is DaWinci. DaWinci enables personnel logistics, Personnel on Board (POB) and Cargo Logistics for offshore platforms. Based in Norway, the tool is used by more than 40 oil, gas and energy operators worldwide. The main idea of the POB feature is to change the real-time POB list according to access points to/from the platform. Every person climbing a helicopter is registered, and the POB list is corrected. Using an interface with a worker safety monitoring solution (like Crew Companion), data is synchronized between the two to keep the database up-to-date.
Technically speaking, the reading of the individual tags, the translation into positions, and the creation of zone-based attendance are the tasks of a worker safety monitoring solution. The display of the data can happen locally (e.g. control room desktop screens), mobile within the offshore installation (e.g. pads or smartphones), onshore (with the help of communication systems accessing a local system) and to external partners (e.g. via interfaces). Therefore, crew safety monitoring can work stand-alone but also in combination with third parties to enhance functionalities and data accuracy.
FAQ
What are the main challenges when integrating transponder-based safety monitoring solutions on offshore platforms?
Integrating transponder-based safety monitoring solutions on offshore platforms presents unique challenges due to the complex environment and the necessity for real-time data transmission. One major hurdle is ensuring the communication infrastructure is robust enough to transmit location data from offshore installations to onshore emergency centres and external rescue teams. This involves establishing a reliable data uplink and consistent connectivity so emergency response teams can promptly make informed decisions. Another challenge is creating seamless interfaces between the transponder system and existing third-party software applications, such as personnel logistics and cargo management systems, to maintain accurate and up-to-date personnel tracking. Ensuring that the safety monitoring system can operate independently while also interacting with other software enhances its functionality but requires precise integration to avoid delays and errors in data synchronization.
How can companies maximize the effectiveness of transponder-based safety monitoring solutions?
To maximize the effectiveness of transponder-based safety monitoring solutions, companies should prioritize real-time data accessibility for all relevant stakeholders. This includes equipping the control room, emergency teams on the offshore platform, onshore emergency response centres, and external rescue units with real-time data feeds. Ensuring that interfaces with third-party applications are established can further enhance data accuracy and operational coordination, making emergency responses more efficient. For example, integrating solutions such as DaWinci with safety monitoring systems like Crew Companion enables continuous updates of Personnel on Board (POB) lists, ensuring accurate mustering in emergencies. Additionally, companies should invest in comprehensive training for on-site and offsite teams to understand how to utilize these systems effectively during regular operations and emergencies. Finally, robust maintenance and regular system updates should be conducted to keep the safety monitoring infrastructure reliable and responsive to potential issues.
Takeaway
Monitoring worker safety is critical in any industry, but especially in hazardous environments (read more about walk-to-work gangway systems). Offshore platforms present a unique set of challenges, but companies can improve offshore HSE by integrating a transponder-based safety monitoring solution. By tracking workers in real-time, companies can muster crews quickly in the event of an accident and make informed decisions about rescue operations. Additionally, by interfacing with third-party applications, data accuracy can be improved, and rescue operations can be coordinated more effectively. Integrating a safety monitoring system is a standard and straightforward procedure of state-of-the-art software and hardware.
If you work on an offshore platform, talk to your company about integrating a transponder-based safety monitoring solution. It could just save your life.
Dive deeper into one of our core topics: Personnel on board
Sources:
(1) https://osha.europa.eu/sites/default/files/Smart-digital-monitoring-systems-uses-challenges_en.pdf
(2) https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2542660522000889
Note: This article was updated on the 5th of November 2024
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