Advancements in Video Tech 'Increasing' Safety in Oil, Gas

Advancements in video technology are increasing the level of safety in the oil and gas industry, according to Adrian Fielding, senior manager for industrial security solutions at Honeywell Process Solutions.

Speaking to Rigzone at an annual meeting for Honeywell users in the EMEA region being held in Madrid this week, Fielding suggested such advancements reduce the level of risk to the workforce by allowing staff to control field environments from safe, centralized locations. He also claimed that this technology can increase the level of consistency in upstream operations.

“The advancements in video technology and the ability to communicate that seamlessly back to a centralized control room means we can have efficiencies of the workforce in the field by putting eyes in the field, without the guys,” he said.

“A camera on normal process operations can read meters, check dials and during an emergency event can provide real time situational awareness of what’s happening with the event, feeding back to a safe environment.

“This is a reducing of risk to the assets, a reducing of risk to the workforce and…[is] able to provide a level of consistency - consistency of compliance, consistency of performance and consistency of response.”