Improving safety using deep learning

Challenge

The challenge in this project was twofold: technical and operational. Technology can only be a tool when improving operational safety. It depends whether people are engaging in it if the desired improvements can actually be realized. For this project the key elements are accurately tracking people and its integration with clear operational procedures.

Accurately tracking people

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

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 basically creates conditional red zones; which dynamics, i.e. size, shape, conditionality, need to be defined in procedures.

Solution: embedded safety & efficiency

When developing the conditional red zone monitoring solution we have 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 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.

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.Driller, Maersk Discoverer

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.