Role-based access wearable solution for the Oil & Gas industry

Challenge

The American petrochemical company faces the challenge of speeding up access control for 3,500 workers every day. However, attendance management is just the beginning, as it leads to new challenges related to the large workforce. These include ensuring compliance with safety protocols, monitoring presence in hazardous areas, and providing immediate assistance in case of emergency.

Furthermore, the company is recording 300 expired training sessions daily. This issue poses a risk to employees, increasing the potential for accidents and generating more expenses related to materials, facilities and other associated costs.

This challenge often arises in various industries with similar characteristics to our use case, where a high number of staff work under similar conditions, such as mining, construction, agriculture, among others.

Solution

To meet these needs, WILOC developed a solution for digital access management that empowers the petrochemical plant in Singapore to streamline access processes and enhance safety measures, creating an efficient and secure system.

WILOC's implementation of a smart device solves the main necessity of the company by delivering accurate entrance and exit times, as well as blocking unauthorized access.

Additionally, the wearable design integrates powerful features to address key factors with one comprehensive solution, such as accurate GPS and integration with Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) technology to verify the presence and proper usage of Personal Protective Equipment (PPE), ensuring compliance with safety regulations.

Another function is the heat map real-time activity asset view, which helps gain valuable insights into worker activity and asset locations. This real-time view provides a visual representation of worker movement and concentration areas within the facility, allowing for effective monitoring and resource allocation.

An alerts management system is also integrated to ensure timely notifications for critical events, enhancing worker safety, regulatory compliance, and overall operational effectiveness. Finally, the solution maintains detailed statistical and historical information regarding assets within the facility to enable comprehensive reporting.

Using the robust LoRaWAN® technology for long-range communications, LORIOT enables seamless connectivity over distances exceeding 2 kilometers to ensure reliable and uninterrupted communication between the network management system and the portable safety devices, providing real-time data exchange and updates.

The Results

By adding a smartwatch to the PPE (Personal Protective Equipment), managers were able to:

• Reduce non-authorized access by 20%
• Detect 50-100 hazardous areas daily
• Develop an effective emergency response plan
• Reduce staff by 5 security guards
• Generate daily training and overwork reports

This comprehensive solution prioritized worker safety, convenience, and seamless integration, ultimately contributing to a safer work environment and improved operational efficiency.

"Improving access control not only represents an important achievement from the productivity perspective, but also it positively impacts the safety of the most important assets in any organization: human resources. Digitalization and implementation of HSSE solutions contribute significantly to reducing the accident rate and positively impact on companies' bottom lines.", said Javier Benjumea Serra, CEO of WILOC.

The results of this IoT case not only benefit the company, but also contribute to achieving three of the United Nations' seventeen sustainable development goals (SDGs).