At a glance
Challenge
The challenge was twofold: technical and operational. Accurately tracking people and equipment is essential to alert crews in unsafe situations, but operation is outdoors, offshore, without stable cloud connectivity, within steel structures, 24/7, day and night. There is great variety in people and equipment, and lines of sight are often blocked. At the same time, clear operational procedures are needed to define safe and unsafe behavior, because drilling operations are dynamic and unsafe areas move and change based on the state of the operation.
Solution
Helin worked closely with the crew, engineers and management of the Maersk Discoverer and partner FMJ Rolloos to develop a modular conditional red zone monitoring solution. Red Zone Manager tracks the drill crew and alerts them when a red zone is breached, with a simple user interface, powerful analytics and actionable insights.
Result
The most important result was increased situational awareness and safety of the crew on the drill floor. The simple user interface, powerful analytics and actionable insights support both crew and management. The AI performed fast and accurately, with 40-50ms inference and ~150ms from camera capture to alarm. The robust edge infrastructure operated 24/7 in a salty offshore environment and integrated a variety of existing industrial systems and protocols.
Accurately tracking people in harsh offshore conditions
To alert people in case of an unsafe situation it is essential to track people and equipment very accurately. Operation is outdoors, offshore without stable connectivity to a cloud, within steel structures, 24/7, day and night.
There is a great variety of people, i.e. shapes, color coveralls, permanent/temporary crew, and equipment blocking lines of sight, i.e. (temporary) equipment moving in and out.
Clear operational procedures for conditional red zones
In order to define safe and unsafe behavior it is key to have clear operational procedures. As the drilling process involves a dynamic operation the unsafe areas move around and change based on the state of the operation.
This creates conditional red zones; their dynamics (size, shape, conditionality) need to be defined in procedures.
Solution: embedded safety & efficiency
When developing the conditional red zone monitoring solution we worked closely together with the crew, engineers and management of the Maersk Discoverer and FMJ Rolloos. Key to the success of the project was to create a modular tool to enforce continuous and iterative operational performance.
- Process optimization, optimize operational procedures based on actual human performance.
- Red Zone Manager, alerting the drill crew when a red zone is breached, accurately and in real time.
- Performance enhancement, standardized statistics on human behavior and operational conditions.
Results
The most important result of the project was the increased situational awareness and safety of the crew on the drill floor. The simple user interface, powerful analytics and actionable insights support both crew and management.
Fast & accurate analytics
Our artificial intelligence performed fast and accurately. The inference took 40-50ms. The entire time between a person being captured by the CCTV cameras and the alarm being raised took close to 150ms. The modular system setup allowed for quick optimization processes for new installations at other rigs.
Robust edge infrastructure
The Helin Platform edge infrastructure operated well 24/7 within a salty offshore environment. It proved its agility to integrate a variety of existing industrial systems and their protocols. Our platform's edge-to-cloud synchronization was optimized for low-bandwidth satellite communication.
Actionable insights
The integration of multiple data sources plus the red zone analytics made it possible to generate integrated operational insights. The real-time situational awareness increased via the conditional red zone lights plus the alerting mechanism. The collected data allowed for taking post-event optimization actions.
Getting started with Red Zone Manager
Are you looking to increase safety and efficiency at your offshore drilling rigs? Do you need accurate, real-time red zone monitoring that works in harsh offshore conditions? Red Zone Manager might be exactly what you're looking for.
Get in touch for an introduction call to see how Red Zone Manager can help you create a safer working environment for your crews.
“Visual indication of red light makes it clear for personnel on the rig floor as to when the red zone is not accessible. This removes any uncertainty they may have.”
Published Aug 17, 2026 · 9 min read