Salunda Limited has recently introduced an innovative real-time location tracking system that improves the safety of people working in the ‘Red Zone’ on offshore oil and gas rigs.
"The patent-protected Crew Hawk integrates multiple technologies into a reliable, robust zone management system that tracks the locations of people and moving equipment on the drill floor in real time, providing position tracking performance to avert incidents, and reduce the risk of workplace injuries and accidents," Salunda said.
Using a wireless network, with wearable locators attached to crew PPE and compact mag-mounted equipment sensors, Crew Hawk automatically triggers personalized warnings, and ultimately pauses moving equipment to prevent a collision if a worker is too close, Salunda said.
"The individual is alerted to the risk of danger by an alarm on the wearable device, with the system also preventing the equipment from moving until the individual has left the area and returned to a secure location," the company added.
To remind, offshore drilling giant Transocean, recently launched a safety system that integrates a wearable locating device with drill floor equipment and machine stoppage controls, which incorporates Salunda’s patented Crew Hawk real-time location technology.
Describing its technology further, Salunda said that an intuitive user interface allows swift set-up to create a portable safety system that can be rapidly deployed across different zones. This enables enhanced safety levels to be established quickly, for example, in multiple work-areas during different operational, maintenance and upgrade activities, the company said.
"Crew Hawk is ATEX and IECEx certified, and the technology can be upgraded with the incorporation of digital ranging cameras to provide an additional level of authorized work area access, safety, and security," Salunda said. According to the company, Crew Hawk may also be integrated with machine vision to discriminate between ‘authorized’ and ‘unauthorized’ personnel and detects those workers that do not have wearable sensors, "providing a uniquely fail-safe solution."
In a statement released this week, Salunda said that Crew Hawk was operational on multiple rigs in the Gulf of Mexico.
"As a result of comprehensive performance validation, Crew Hawk systems are now being rolled out across the global offshore oilfield drilling sector, including South America, Australia, and South East Asia," the company said.
Alan Finlay, CEO at Salunda, said: “Keeping people safe in Red Zones is of paramount importance for offshore oil and gas operators. Salunda’s track record of deploying massive wireless sensors networks on rigs meant we were well placed to deliver Crew Hawk, a world-first in offshore drilling that meets the requirement for detection and identification of machinery and personnel in a wide variety of circumstances and keeps the two a safe distance apart.”