For over two decades, Total Safety has maintained an unwavering mission "to ensure the safe Wellbeing of Workers Worldwide®." With the new capabilities of its Technology Center in Pasadena, Texas, Total Safety is now more prepared than ever to help its clients achieve stellar safety records, all while cutting costs and improving productivity.
Through the Technology Center's Centralized Control Room, Total Safety is positioned to offer its clients a truly connected workforce. Jobsite activity can now be monitored remotely with key data readily available to leadership personnel in an easy-to-use dashboard, decreasing the number of employees needed on-site and, in turn, significantly lowering safety risks across the board.
With its connected worker solutions, Total Safety is ushering in a new era of safety.
"Our customers are looking for ways to make their operations safer, more efficient and more productive, especially in the climate we are currently in due to COVID-19 and other market constraints," said Vice President of Connected Solutions Clint Palermo. "They have work to do, and they want to do that work safely and in a timely manner. Our team delivers a wide variety of fully connected products and services that will give them exactly that."
The Technology Center
Total Safety's Technology Center allows remote monitoring of many connected technologies from a centralized command room, operated by trained and certified technicians who are responsible for overseeing surveillance, communication and incoming data management.
The suite of technologies offered through this command center includes Total Safety's patented Centralized Confined Space Monitoring, Smart Monitoring, Smart Compressors and ePermitting, plus multibranded complimentary technologies such as connected area and wearable gas detection, two-way radios and vending solutions, so jobsites can be managed like never before.
"This is the future," said Senior Vice President Mark Barker. "What technology services like CCSM, Smart Monitoring and Smart Compressors do is remove the number of at-risk personnel from a jobsite or hazardous environment. The fewer people you can bring into a facility and still get the same amount of work done, the better. This is how we drive value."
The Technology Center's control room monitors several life-saving systems, including Blackline Safety's personal and area gas detection.
The introduction of Blackline Safety devices into Total Safety's wearable gas detector offerings and rental fleet has brought personal protection and connectivity to a new level by providing lifesaving functionality for every worker, including live gas exposure alarms and notifications, man-down alerts, time-based check-ins, emergency SOS latches, GPS positioning information and two-way communication. All of these can be monitored in real time 24/7 by Total Safety's Technology Center to ensure an adequate emergency response.
With Blackline's G7 technology, data is constantly being collected, such as worker location, cumulative gas exposure, contact tracing and more. The big data can then be quickly analyzed and distilled into actionable datasets that are easy to understand and implement to improve worker safety. Total Safety is able to quickly run a variety of reports on worker metrics including gas exposure reports for time-weighted average and short-term exposure limit location; productivity reports; statistics surrounding slips, trips and falls; and much more. Blackline's cloud-based analytics and dashboards are powered by Microsoft BI. Blackline's G7 EXO is the world's first fully connected, direct-to-cloud area gas detection. Direct connection to Total Safety's Centralized Control Room at its Technology Center means it is constantly monitored by subject matter experts well-versed in area gas detection. The equipment is rugged, and can be deployed in seconds for emergency response scenarios or left in the field for an amazing 100- plus days on a single charge. Features include alarms; communication capabilities; and, because it is connected to the cloud, real-time atmospheric data, notifications and reporting.
Big data and worker safety
One of Total Safety's clients realized the value of Blackline's cloud-connected G7 devices and the role of leveraging big data in industrial safety when a worker wearing a G7c device was walking through a warehouse and the carbon monoxide (CO) alarm went off. He was able to use the push-to-talk function to notify a supervisor immediately to investigate the elevated gas reading.
The Blackline G7c transmits all atmospheric values and their locations to the cloud, so Total Safety was able to use the dashboard analytics to see all gas readings recorded throughout the facility. By following the report trend and creating various heat maps of the elevated levels of CO, Total Safety could pinpoint the exact location and explore the source of the CO. After a short inspection, the client was surprised to discover a forklift with a damaged battery was the source of dangerous gas emissions that could have endangered the lives of workers.
Had the client been using traditional nonconnected gas-measurement equipment, the source of the CO gas would have gone unnoticed. In this case, the continuous cloud connectivity of the G7c ultimately played a crucial role in preventing potentially disastrous consequences.
Elevating safety in confined spaces
Total Safety's Technology Center uses the CCSM system to offer remote monitoring of multiple confined spaces simultaneously. One CCSM system replaces up to 12 traditional safety attendants by combining technology with two highly trained operators. This all-in-one solution comes with camera monitoring inside and outside the confined space, badge access control, atmospheric monitoring, twoway communication, visual and audio alarms, and a team of expert operators. By having eyes and ears inside the confined spaces, fewer people are required on-site, which has a huge impact on safety due to early detection of unsafe situations and incidents. Projects can vary from a single confined-space entry up to hundreds of simultaneous entries. Total Safety's CCSM complies with OSHA's 29 CFR 1910.146.
"We take data from multiple devices and display them on one dashboard, so our customers only need to look in one place to get all of the information they need," said Gunter Vancraybex, general manager of Total Safety Systems. "We collect data from a wide variety of installed devices and connect the dots for you."
Data monitoring with CCSM prevents fire disaster
A petrochemical plant in the southeastern U.S. recently experienced firsthand how easily a fire can start in a compartment such as a container, tank or vessel. During a 12-hour period, the plant had two separate incidents where fires ignited in vessels as the maintenance crew was on a lunch break.
The client used Total Safety's CCSM system to monitor 12 confined spaces in five different towers where maintenance and repair work was being performed.
The first fire occurred near midnight. While a crew was cutting and grinding in a confined-space vessel, Total Safety's CCSM operator notified them the CO levels were rising. The crew promptly evacuated the area and took a lunch break.
The operators continued to monitor the CO levels in the vessel and noticed they were not decreasing; in fact, they were slowly increasing. The situation was reported, and the team immediately engaged the proper safety protocols to inspect the vessel. They discovered material at the bottom of the tank had ignited, and the small smolder was extinguished quickly without injury or damage.
Twelve hours later, while the maintenance team was taking a lunch break, Total Safety's CCSM operator noticed a CO spike in one of the vessels. The alarms went off and a small amount of smoke gathering in the manway was observed. In a short time, the smoke began to intensify, and embers could be seen on the CCSM monitors falling to an area below. Immediately, the plant's vessel entry supervisor was notified and the area was evacuated. Because of the quick response time, the situation was brought under control before an actual fire began.
The client was impressed with how well the CCSM system monitored the space and captured data, and how efficiently the operators were able to provide reports. The integration of smart technology monitored 24/7 by a team of confined-space safety experts is an example of how Total Safety elevates turnaround and maintenance safety.
Total Safety's people are the difference
Total Safety's Connected Safety Solutions team members are dedicated to the company's mission "to ensure the safe Wellbeing of Workers Worldwide." The team's specialized safety personnel are highly trained on Total Safety's connected technologies and safe work procedures. They receive a minimum of 40 hours of classroom training and 40 hours of simulated training. Additionally, they conduct ongoing and continuous training and certification programs.
In case of an alarm or emergency, Total Safety has implemented a solid chain of command that provides layers of supervision and experts to support safety personnel at the project site, enabling them to take appropriate action. If needed, the technicians who staff the off-site Centralized Control Room are ready to assist the local teams. In addition, the company captures and supplies all related data required for post-incident investigation into what happened and for conducting probable-cause analyses.
A superior solution
The Total Safety Technology Center and its Connected Safety Solutions exemplifies Total Safety's comprehensive approach to safety and protecting employees, contractors and the environment. Developed and implemented 100-percent in-house through lessons learned and suggestions from its clients, Total Safety's Connected Safety Solutions have been tried and tested, undergoing years of refinement.
"Total Safety believes in investing in technology, equipment and people to offer superior safety solutions available anywhere," Palermo said. "That is why we advanced our mission-critical safety function by developing an all-inclusive connected solution that enhances customer safety programs, increases efficiencies, and ensures stewardship and compliance."
You can be confident that your next maintenance project will go better than planned with Total Safety.
