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Big data analytics is a big deal right now in the oil & gas industry.1 This emerging trend is on track to become an industry best practice for good reason: It improves exploration and production efficiency.2
With the help of sensors, massive amounts of data already are being extracted from exploration, drilling, and production operations, as well as being leveraged to shed light on sophisticated engineering problems. So, why shouldn’t a similar approach be applied when it comes to worker health and safety; especially when it’s the norm across a wide variety of other industries?3
There’s definitely room for data-driven safety improvements in the energy section. While the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers came out with a safety performance report that showed fatalities and injuries for the industry were down in 2019,4 the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) says that the oil and gas industry’s fatality rate is 7x higher than all other industries in the U.S.5
Safety is paramount, of course, but the nature of the work in this industry also makes safety advances incredibly challenging. As a safety professional, you continually seek the best ways to efficiently address worksite and worker safety issues.
Efficiency is a good thing, of course, but if efficiency is your single-minded goal, you’ll only be solving immediate safety problems and you won’t be doing much, if anything, to mitigate safety risks in the long term. If you’re ready to change that, keep reading.
Better Safety Outcomes: Why Context Is Everything
To avoid falling into the trap of thinking only about efficiency, you need to create a more successful and sustainable solution. What safety managers like you need is a clear view of your organization’s safety context. This is what’s known as having great “quality of perception” or QoP.
QoP is a crucial part of a next-generation Safety Program. That’s because the deeper understanding that you and your safety team have of the actual reality of your Safety Program, the more likely you are to make sound, accurate, life-saving decisions.
Herein lies the inherent value of data. Quality data presented in a relevant and usable format will help you make sense of what’s happening, what could happen, and, more importantly, how to prevent safety hazards and issues. It’s time for oil & gas safety managers to realize that relying on data-driven insight will give them evidence-based confidence to make correct and timely decisions to accomplish their safety goals.
Improved Quality of Perception (QoP): Why Simple Is Better
Complexity is the enemy when it comes to improving QoP so, it only makes sense to simplify the decision-making process. How? With data so well-defined that it leads to actionable insights. With this approach, it will take you far less time and effort to have full situational awareness. Decision-making, therefore, becomes easy and straightforward because it’s so clear and evident what needs to be done.
Smart Solutions: Why Oil & Gas Needs Them
Across the globe, there’s at least one risk for workers in the oil & gas extraction and support industries; engaging in work that potentially exposes them toxic gases and atmospheres. A 2019 study by the UK Oil and Gas Industry Association showed that hydrocarbon releases (HCRs) “are the largest single type of reportable incident,” accounting for 37% of reportable incidents – even before dropped objects.6
And, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Census of Fatal Occupational Injuries (CFOI), over a 10-year period in the United States 14.3% of oil & gas worker safety events were the result of fires or explosions with exposure to harmful substances or environments accounting for 8.8% of events.7
So where does big data analytics come into play? No doubt, smart gas detection can play a crucial role in promoting worker health and safety in this indutry. Workers and the safety managers in charge of helping protect them can, and should, leverage the life-saving, incident-reducing benefits that smart technologies have to offer.
As an example, consider a connect (aka “smart”) gas detection solution. Each of these components plays a part in the quantity and quality of available data:
- Smart sensors influence data accuracy at three levels: (1) type, (2) quantity or concentration levels, and (3) time or how long exposure occurred.
- Smart devices enable quick and easy connectivity with other devices and the cloud. They also enable reporting on status, device condition, and more.
- Smart software delivers compliant gas readings, as well as at-a-glance information, and actionable insights to support swift, accurate, safety-minded decision making.
Smart solutions not only help safety professionals automate compliance and mitigate risk, it also helps them – and you – learn from the data to further improve the QoP.
QoP Evaluation: Why Data Supports Improvement
When it comes to gas safety, here are the four primary areas in which a smart system makes sense:
1. Automated Compliance Management
It’s a given that inspecting gas-detection devices, calibrating them, and bump testing is a complex, time-consuming process. Simply by adding smart technologies, you can automate the compliance process, freeing up valuable time to focus on higher-level objectives. Further, having all the information about your organization’s gas detectors in one easily accessible, cloud-based repository gives you a solid and robust overview at gas detector compliance data with an internet connection.
2. Incident Prevention and Management Response
The ultimate goal of every Safety Program is to prevent all incidents. However, to get there, you need information. Smart solutions provide near-real-time incident reporting, increasing worksite visibility for early troubleshooting and resolution, as well as documentation of the issue. A smart and comprehensive field device manager for current detector readings and alarm notifications will allow you to act as fast to help avert an incident.
3. Worker Health and Productivity
Smart worker safety solutions leverage state-of-the-art technologies, like connected gas detectors, to protect teams, as well as safely boost productivity. Because smart solutions let you review when and how devices are used, you get deeper insight into worker safety habits and training opportunities.
4. Active Safety Monitoring
By giving safety managers access to anytime, anywhere data, smart solutions let you stay ahead of safety activities without necessitating time-consuming walkthroughs. Even from a remote location, you’ll be able? to see worker locations via street and satellite views, as well as get near-real-time notifications about such things as instrument readings and potentially hazardous gas exposures.
Data, Detection & Safety: Why Learn More
Increasing QoP is another important way to improve your Safety Program. Yet to increase QoP, you’re going to have to learn from and leverage available data. So, take the time to evaluate your QoP. Figure out how to use your gas detector data intelligently. If you need a model that can help, contact MSA for a demonstration.
In the meantime, it’s important to know that choosing a trustworthy gas detection solution will help you stay compliant. But more than that, it will give you peace of mind, knowing that you’re helping to keep both your worksites and your workers safe.
References:
1. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2405656118301421?via%3Dihub
2. https://jpt.spe.org/tapping-value-big-data-analytics
3. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S2214579621000277
4. https://www.iogp.org/blog/news/fatalities-and-injuries-down-in-2019-says-new-iogp-report/
5. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6420a4.htm
7. https://www.cdc.gov/mmwr/preview/mmwrhtml/mm6420a4.htm#Tab1
