Health Team Face Real-Life Horror In Ebola Battle

When officials in Uganda verified an outbreak of the Ebola virus on Saturday, it set international health workers in motion.

The hemorrhagic virus is the stuff of real-life horror — spreading through contact with infected individuals, their bodily fluids and even clothing they have worn. In many cases Ebola leads to a rapid decline marked by fever, diarrhea, vomiting and internal and external bleeding.

In the few days since it was reported, medical teams from in and outside Uganda have descended on the source of the outbreak in western Uganda, Kibaale district, where so far, there have been 38 confirmed cases of Ebola (formally Ebola hemorrhagic fever) and 16 deaths, according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The bible for containing Ebola — and similar contagious viruses — is a 200-page guide to detection, isolation and sanitation procedures developed by international health officials and groups after the 1995 outbreak in the Democratic Republic of Congo. In that case, due to belated reporting, and the absence of precautions, more than 300 people contracted the disease, and about 80 percent of them died.

Among the groups scrambling to put these protocols in place are the U.S. Centers for Disease Control, Uganda Red Cross, World Health Organization and Doctors without Borders (Medecins Sans Frontieres), an international emergency aid group.

"Ebola is not completely unknown but it’s not like malaria which (they) see every day,” said Henry Gray, who is with a team from Doctors without Borders that arrived Monday night in Kigadi, the town about 100 miles west of Kampala where the first cases emerged. "When something like Ebola happens, it rarely hits the same place twice, so there’s normally a learning curve" for local personnel.

One third of the 100-bed Kigadi Hospital has been designated an isolation unit for Ebola infected cases, with a physical barrier restricting access to non-Ebola patients in the hospital, said Gray.

Within the isolated side, "there’s one area for people under observation, and another for people confirmed (with Ebola). There are other areas where there’s a pharmacy, an area where people get dressed and undressed from protective equipment."

When there is no space in the building to accommodate a given need, the team puts up tents in the courtyard, also part of the isolation zone.

"The whole of the isolation zone has a risk attached — both low risk and high risk," said Gray. "High risk we don’t go in without full gear — that is not a millimeter square of skin showing so there’s no risk of being splattered by blood or fluids or whatever."

One of the priorities is to protect and support local medical staff who are frightened. In this outbreak, as in others, some of the first fatalities were two medical personnel who contracted the virus from patients before it had been identified as Ebola.

"One way to make sure we are supporting them is to put procedures in place. Once they are set we really minimize the risk," said Gray, an engineer. "That, for me, is a way for us to deal with it — to be really, really strict in that."

In coming days, Doctors without Borders will also be providing psychosocial support to help medical workers and patients cope with the crisis, and the fear it engenders. They have worked out safety procedures for counsellors working with patients who are in isolation, and cared for by people in hazmat suits.

"People are frightened," said Gray. "The poor people who catch it are in completely unfamiliar surroundings and don’t know what is going on." One of the first priorities is to set up isolation units, sanitation procedures and safety gear to prevent the spread of Ebola from patients outside the hospital, and to protect care givers.

Doctors without Borders and others also provide psychosocial support, including psychologists to work with doctors and patients, as well as family and contacts of those infected.

So far, Doctors without Borders has a team of 22 expatriate and local staff in Kigadi, working alongside local hospital and health ministry workers, reinforcements from the capital Kampala, and other international groups.

Gray said the size of the team was expected to double, and could shift from setting up detection and treatment systems, to community education and outreach depending on how the situation develops.

Source : NBC News

News : Headline/ The Truly Inspiring Story

The truly inspiring story of the Chinese rubbish collector who saved and raised THIRTY babies abandoned at the roadside

A woman has been hailed a hero after details of her astonishing work with abandoned children has emerged.

Lou Xiaoying, now 88 and suffering from kidney failure, found and raised more than 30 abandoned Chinese babies from the streets of Jinhua, in the eastern Zhejiang province where she managed to make a living by recycling rubbish.

She and her late husband Li Zin, who died 17 years ago, kept four of the children and passed the others onto friends and family to start new lives. Her youngest son Zhang Qilin - now aged just seven - was found in a dustbin by Lou when she was 82.

'Even though I was already getting old I could not simply ignore the baby and leave him to die in the trash. He looked so sweet and so needy. I had to take him home with me,' she said.

'I took him back to our home, which is a very small modest house in the countryside and nursed him to health. He is now a thriving little boy, who is happy and healthy. 'My older children all help look after Zhang Qilin, he is very special to all of us. I named him after the Chinese word for rare and precious.

'The whole thing started when I found the first baby, a little girl back in 1972 when I was out collecting rubbish. She was just lying amongst the junk on the street, abandoned. She would have died had we not rescued her and taken her in.

'Watching her grow and become stronger gave us such happiness and I realised I had a real love of caring for children.

'I realised if we had strength enough to collect garbage how could we not recycle something as important as human lives,' she explained.

'These children need love and care. They are all precious human lives. I do not understand how people can leave such a vulnerable baby on the streets.

Lou, who has one biological daughter, Zhang Caiying and now aged 49, devoted her life to looking after the abandoned babies.

Word of her kind-hearted gestures has now spread in China, where thousands of babies are abandoned on the streets by their poverty stricken parents.

One fan explained: 'She is shaming to governments, schools and people who stand by and do nothing. She has no money or power but she saved children from death or worse.'

'In the local community she is well known and well respected for her work with the abandoned babies. She does her best. She is a local hero. But unfortunately there are far too many abandoned babies in China who have no hope of survival.

Only last week there was news of a baby lucky to be alive after having its throat cut and then put in a plastic bag and thrown in a dustbin at Anshan city, in northeast China’s Liaoning province.

The baby – a girl – was thought to be a victim of the country's one child policy where parents restricted to only having a single child prefer boys and girls are unwanted and often discarded.

Infanticide of 'guilt children' is still a problem in rural areas but it is rare in cities, where children are usually abandoned but not killed.

The baby's fate has horrified China. The tot was spotted when a passerby went to throw some rubbish in the bin the and saw what he thought was a dead baby in the bag. He told police that the child was purple and had not moved until he examined the bag more closely.

A resident who witnessed the girl being taken to hospital said: 'She was still breathing and had a heartbeat. Blood from the wound stained the whole body.'

Doctors said that if the baby had been left in the bag a few minutes longer she would have died of suffocation and it had already been affected by the lack of oxygen hence the purple colour.

They said that the baby had been born premature and was probably between 32 and 34 weeks old and weighing just 1.4 kg. A medic said that if the cut had been just a millimetre deep in the baby would have died.

Intelegent Copilot For Car : Semiautonomous system takes the wheel to keep drivers safe

Barrels and cones dot an open field in Saline, Mich., forming an obstacle course for a modified vehicle. A driver remotely steers the vehicle through the course from a nearby location as a researcher looks on. Occasionally, the researcher instructs the driver to keep the wheel straight — a trajectory that appears to put the vehicle on a collision course with a barrel. Despite the driver’s actions, the vehicle steers itself around the obstacle, transitioning control back to the driver once the danger has passed.

The key to the maneuver is a new semiautonomous safety system developed by Sterling Anderson, a PhD student in MIT’s Department of Mechanical Engineering, and Karl Iagnemma, a principal research scientist in MIT’s Robotic Mobility Group.

The system uses an onboard camera and laser rangefinder to identify hazards in a vehicle’s environment. The team devised an algorithm to analyze the data and identify safe zones — avoiding, for example, barrels in a field, or other cars on a roadway. The system allows a driver to control the vehicle, only taking the wheel when the driver is about to exit a safe zone.

Anderson, who has been testing the system in Michigan since last September, describes it as an “intelligent co-pilot” that monitors a driver’s performance and makes behind-the-scenes adjustments to keep the vehicle from colliding with obstacles, or within a safe region of the environment, such as a lane or open area.

“The real innovation is enabling the car to share [control] with you,” Anderson says. “If you want to drive, it’ll just … make sure you don’t hit anything.”

The group presented details of the safety system recently at the Intelligent Vehicles Symposium in Spain.

Off the beaten path

Robotics research has focused in recent years on developing systems — from cars to medical equipment to industrial machinery — that can be controlled by either robots or humans. For the most part, such systems operate along preprogrammed paths.

As an example, Anderson points to the technology behind self-parking cars. To parallel park, a driver engages the technology by flipping a switch and taking his hands off the wheel. The car then parks itself, following a preplanned path based on the distance between neighboring cars.

While a planned path may work well in a parking situation, Anderson says when it comes to driving, one or even multiple paths is far too limiting.

“The problem is, humans don’t think that way,” Anderson says. “When you and I drive, [we don’t] choose just one path and obsessively follow it. Typically you and I see a lane or a parking lot, and we say, ‘Here is the field of safe travel, here’s the entire region of the roadway I can use, and I’m not going to worry about remaining on a specific line, as long as I’m safely on the roadway and I avoid collisions.’”

Anderson and Iagnemma integrated this human perspective into their robotic system. The team came up with an approach to identify safe zones, or “homotopies,” rather than specific paths of travel. Instead of mapping out individual paths along a roadway, the researchers divided a vehicle’s environment into triangles, with certain triangle edges representing an obstacle or a lane’s boundary.

The researchers devised an algorithm that “constrains” obstacle-abutting edges, allowing a driver to navigate across any triangle edge except those that are constrained. If a driver is in danger of crossing a constrained edge — for instance, if he’s fallen asleep at the wheel and is about to run into a barrier or obstacle — the system takes over, steering the car back into the safe zone.

Building trust

So far, the team has run more than 1,200 trials of the system, with few collisions; most of these occurred when glitches in the vehicle’s camera failed to identify an obstacle. For the most part, the system has successfully helped drivers avoid collisions.

Benjamin Saltsman, manager of intelligent truck vehicle technology and innovation at Eaton Corp., says the system has several advantages over fully autonomous variants such as the self-driving cars developed by Google and Ford. Such systems, he says, are loaded with expensive sensors, and require vast amounts of computation to plan out safe routes.

"The implications of [Anderson's] system is it makes it lighter in terms of sensors and computational requirements than what a fully autonomous vehicle would require," says Saltsman, who was not involved in the research. "This simplification makes it a lot less costly, and closer in terms of potential implementation."

In experiments, Anderson has also observed an interesting human response: Those who trust the system tend to perform better than those who don’t. For instance, when asked to hold the wheel straight, even in the face of a possible collision, drivers who trusted the system drove through the course more quickly and confidently than those who were wary of the system.

And what would the system feel like for someone who is unaware that it’s activated? “You would likely just think you’re a talented driver,” Anderson says. “You’d say, ‘Hey, I pulled this off,’ and you wouldn’t know that the car is changing things behind the scenes to make sure the vehicle remains safe, even if your inputs are not.”

He acknowledges that this isn’t necessarily a good thing, particularly for people just learning to drive; beginners may end up thinking they are better drivers than they actually are. Without negative feedback, these drivers can actually become less skilled and more dependent on assistance over time. On the other hand, Anderson says expert drivers may feel hemmed in by the safety system. He and Iagnemma are now exploring ways to tailor the system to various levels of driving experience.

The team is also hoping to pare down the system to identify obstacles using a single cellphone. “You could stick your cellphone on the dashboard, and it would use the camera, accelerometers and gyro to provide the feedback needed by the system,” Anderson says. “I think we’ll find better ways of doing it that will be simpler, cheaper and allow more users access to the technology.”

This research was supported by the United States Army Research Office and the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. The experimental platform was developed in collaboration with Quantum Signal LLC with assistance from James Walker, Steven Peters and Sisir Karumanchi.

Source : Jennifer, MIT News Office

Health & Safety | Global Issues | Chevron

Health & Safety | Global Issues | Chevron

Our commitment to the health and safety of our employees and contractors is recognized in The Chevron Way, managed through our Operational Excellence Management System, and reinforced at all levels of the corporation.

Safety
Chevron's efforts to create and maintain a safety culture include starting meetings with safety lessons, tracking and awarding business units for strong safety performance, sharing best practices and lessons learned, and using behavior-based safety evaluations. Our Zero Is Attainable awards are granted to eligible organizations that complete 1 million work hours or 1,000 days worked with no days away from work incidents and no fatalities. In 2010, 76 organizations received 163 awards.

Although we had our safest year ever, we did not meet our target of zero fatalities in 2011. To prevent any further loss of life, we continue to pursue our goal using a variety of tools. Each fatality is thoroughly investigated, and the chairman reviews the results. Incident reports and lessons learned are distributed throughout the company.

For an in-depth look at Chevron safety statistics, read the 2011 Corporate Responsibility Report.

Health
Chevron invests in the health of employees to improve productivity, reduce costs related to employee health, and help our employees optimize their physical health and mental well-being. Our programs include an award-winning HIV/AIDS training program and policy, as well as programs to support employees who want to make positive lifestyle changes.

Chevron is continuing to implement a Fitness for Duty process, which confirms or identifies the circumstances under which employees are able to safely perform essential physical, psychological and cognitive requirements of their job without risk to self, others or the environment. In addition, we are continuing to implement our occupational hygiene process and its medical surveillance procedure, which seeks to affirm that workers are protected from potential workplace hazards such as noise and chemicals. We are developing standards and deploying them to business units, as well as creating a medical surveillance data tracking system.

Chevron launched a cardiovascular health program in 2007 and continues to deploy it in more countries around the world. By the end of 2011, the program had been launched in Angola, Brazil, Canada, Colombia, Nigeria, the Philippines, Thailand, Trinidad and Tobago, the United States and Venezuela, with 48 percent of eligible employees participating. The program includes a risk assessment and personalized recommendations and coaching.

Jay Pryor, Chevron's vice president of business development, noticed that his numbers were starting to slowly creep up after his annual physical. His doctor advised him to exercise and lose weight to get them going back in the right direction. At about the same time, Jay saw an e-mail about the cardiovascular health program. "It sounded like the program could help me with exactly the same things I needed to improve—exercise, nutrition and weight loss—so I took the cardiovascular risk assessment and signed up for a health coach." Guidance he received on portion sizes and incorporating regular physical exercise helped Jay lose 30 pounds and improve his numbers. "Little steps have added up to a big change!"

Seo Safety : 2 dead, 8 injured in Downtown Line Bugis scaffolding collapse

SINGAPORE - Two workers were killed in a deadly underground scaffolding collapse at the Downtown Line Bugis Station worksite this morning.

Both bodies were found after a search that took more than five hours from the time the accident took place at about 6.50am. The first body was found at 10.40am, and has been extricated, while the second - a metre away from the first - was found at 12.53pm and extricated at 4.05pm.

Both deceased workers were from China.

The Land Transport Authority (LTA) said it is "deeply saddened by the loss of the two workers as well as the injuries suffered by the other eight workers".

"We will cooperate with the Ministry of Manpower in their investigation into the cause of the accident. We will also exercise extra vigilance to prevent a similar occurrence," said the LTA in a statement.

The first body was found submerged in cement and the Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) had to use water jets to keep the cement from hardening, so that the body could be removed before the cement hardens. It took the SCDF one hour to extricate his body.

The second worker took a further two hours to find, though he was lying just 1m away from the first body, as both were submerged in cement and pinned down by planks of scaffolding.

The SCDF said part of the second body was stuck under the scaffolding. It was a long and tedious process to extract the body as the SCDF wanted to do so with minimal damage to the body.

Of the eight workers who were injured when the underground scaffolding collapsed at the construction site, at the junction of Victoria Street and Rochor Road, five have been discharged from Raffles Hospital. The remaining three are still under observation in hospital.

All other workers have been accounted for.

The scaffolding that collapsed at about 6.50am was holding up the roof of a linkway that is being built between the existing Bugis station and the Downtown Line extension. The scaffolding structure was about 4 metres high.

The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) said in a press release that based on preliminary information, it appeared that the workers were pouring concrete into a mould when the scaffolding structure supporting the mould collapsed. The accident happened about 4m deep beneath the surface.

The MOM added that its Occupational Safety & Health inspectors went down to the accident site immediately. The ministry has instructed all work to cease onsite, and investigations are currently ongoing.

The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) has also revoked the construction permit for the Downtown Line Bugis station linkway site while further investigations are ongoing. BCA's engineers also went to the site to investigate and has assesed that the collapse is localised and there are no structural safety concerns on the surrounding buildings and the road above.

LTA engineers and personnel have been mobilised on site to assist SCDF and the Police to manage the situation. SCDF got the call at 7.20am, and were on scene by 7.25am. Firefighters were sent down to search for the two workers. Search dogs have also been spotted on the scene, and a stretcher was seen being brought underground.

"The DTL Bugis station structure is substantially complete and structurally sound. The incident poses no risk to surrounding developments and the public," said the LTA.

"Similar scaffolding structures at other DTL worksites have been checked and confirmed to be safe."

The Bugis project is a Joint Venture between Soletanche-Bachy and Koh Brothers, according to the MOM.

Seo Safety : Remote Wireless Video Baby Monitor With Infra Red

Baby Monitor have many advantages for busy parents. They allow parents to hear what is going on in the child’s room from another room. While most crying babies can be heard throughout most homes, baby monitors can alert parents to a fall or in some cases, an intruder who enters the room. Newer versions of baby monitors include video, where parents can see as well as hear their child.

However, baby monitors can be dangerous. The Consumer Product Safety Commission reports that seven children have died since 2002 after getting wrapped up in cords. The organization recommends that parents should adhere to some safety precautions if using baby monitors.

The biggest problem with safety monitors is with the cords. Keep the cords out of the arm’s reach of the child.

Place the monitor as far away from the crib, play area or other area where the child is. This will ensure that the cord is at least three feet away from the areas as well. Some parents use a movement baby monitor. These sense when the child has moved. Again, make sure the cords don’t tangle so that the child will not strangle. The Safety Commission is so concerned about the safety of baby monitors that they recalled two brands in early 2011. Those recalled were 1.7 million video baby monitors made by Summer Infant and Slim and Secure Video Monitors, made by the same company. Parents can contact the company at 800-426-8627 if they have one of these monitors.

The Ohio Department of Health features the Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) Program that works with various programs throughout the state in providing guidance and understanding in sudden and unexpected infant deaths. Baby monitors that include video may help parents stay on alert with infant activity.

News : www.chevron.com

Chevron Enters Into Agreement With Kosmos Energy
Joint exploration agreement expands Chevron’s presence in a new geological trend

Chevron Corporation (NYSE: CVX) announced that its wholly owned subsidiary Chevron Global Energy Inc. (Chevron) will be assigned a 50 percent working interest in Blocks 42 and 45 offshore Suriname through an agreement with Kosmos Energy. Under the agreement, Kosmos will have a 50 percent working interest and remain operator of both blocks until the end of the exploration phase. Chevron will assume the remaining 50 percent working interest and will be the operator following any commercial discoveries.

"This agreement enables us to explore for new resources in this frontier basin," said George Kirkland, vice chairman, Chevron Corporation. "These blocks are on trend with new deepwater Cretaceous discoveries in the region."

Blocks 42 and 45 are approximately 155 miles (250 kilometers) from Paramaribo and cover a combined area of about 2.8 million gross acres, at water depths ranging between 650 and 8,500 feet (200-2600 meters).

"We are very pleased to participate in Suriname's emerging energy sector," said Ali Moshiri, president of Chevron Africa and Latin America Exploration and Production Company. "These blocks will expand our exploration portfolio in Latin America."

Chevron is one of the world's leading integrated energy companies, with subsidiaries that conduct business worldwide. The company's success is driven by the ingenuity and commitment of its employees and their application of the most innovative technologies in the world. Chevron is involved in virtually every facet of the energy industry. The company explores for, produces and transports crude oil and natural gas; refines, markets and distributes transportation fuels and other energy products; manufactures and sells petrochemical products; generates power and produces geothermal energy; provides energy efficiency solutions; and develops the energy resources of the future, including biofuels. Chevron is based in San Ramon, Calif. More information about Chevron is available at www.chevron.com.

Computerize Identification For Oil and Gas Processing Plant

Current Bottlenecks of Oil and Gas Processing Companies

   For oil and gas companies, maintaining an operational integrity of the equipment and systems depends on the quality of monitoring, inspection and maintenance of the equipment (among others). But to date, efficiency of monitoring efforts is questionable as it requires considerable financial and human resources.

   Usually, during monitoring and inspection rounds the specialists first write down the monitored and measured parameters on the paper. Then, back at the workdesk, they again rewrite the collected information to the operational logs, or key it into the computer (usually in Excel table, less often into the MRO (Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul) programs.

   Such a “traditional” data collection procedure implies high degree of human error – there is no guarantee that the reporting specialist really completed the inspection and correctly noted the data. This means that reliability and accuracy of the received information, and, consequently, the operation of the facility, could be questioned.

   During the scheduled search for the best location for each facility according to given information, the personnel is forced to continually go back and forth, from the archive to the computer to check the database, as no-one can possibly keep the information about all monitored equipment in the head. Time wasted on moving and search for the necessary data takes at least 20 percent of the employees’ time (according to foreign estimates). That is, non-production costs are about six resource days per month or 70 resource days annually – this is a large figure, and the one that should attract attention of the management engaged in efficiency enhancement routines.

   This means that practically any facility of oil and gas processing industry is facing the tasks of reducing the impact of human factor on the quality of monitoring and maintenance, and improving the operating efficiency of personnel.

Boosting the performance gains

   Significant reduction of the resources used to maintain the normal functionality of equipment and engineering systems could be achieved by improving the following processes:
Timely information to staff and management on the status of equipment, any critical situations and, consequently, prevention of accidents, malfunctions and their prompt removal as required.
Monitoring operators’ activities by reducing the possibility of the following risks:
–    information loss (for example, loss of paper scratch-pad or the lack of a uniform standard for recording the monitored and measured parameters);
–    poor quality of work (i.e., careless writing in the scratch-pad);
–    failure to perform the routine maintenance (due to lack of formal means of maintenance monitoring).
Easy access to operational information and documentation.

The modern answer: computerized Identification and Information Mobility

   NEOLANT promptly responded to these market needs, unrolling its flagship information system based on the technology of automated identification and standing on the “three pillars”: 
barcode or radio frequency tagging of the monitored objects;
portable data terminals for the automated tag recognition, obtaining and entering real-time the information on the monitored equipment and subsequent information transfer to specialized information systems;
software for consolidating and processing the data, including data visualization tools (e.g., 3D models and geographic information systems).
The system provides ultimate control over the actions of operating personnel, the constant accumulation of relevant information about the equipment status, real-time expert access to all operational data independently of location.

Barcodes or RFID?

   Let’s consider the functioning of automated identification technology in detail.
Barcode tags (Fig. 1) are graphically encoded IDs of equipment. Special production and application method leads to the following results:
elimination of duplication;
virtually unlimited shelf life;
can be applied to almost any surface;
tags remain intact in the harshest operating environments.
In the application of radio frequency identification (RFID) data stored in the so-called RFID-tags are read and written by radio signals. This technology can do more complex tasks than barcoding; RFID-tags are more resistant to mechanical stress and pollution, and can be picked off by a scanner from a larger distance. Tags come in various forms: some contain only information stored by the manufacturer, others allow the customer to re-write data. However, the RFID system can be affected by electromagnetic fields.
The choice between the barcoding and RFID depends on the operating conditions at the customer’s plant - either technology has plus and minus points, and they complement each other well.
To read barcodes and RFID tags, portable data terminals (Fig. 2) are used. The device, a combination of handheld computer and scanner, guarantees the identification of the units, allows entering the current values of monitored parameters and storage of large amounts of information. The data terminals are equipped with touch screen, run NEOLANT-provided OS and have significant battery life (8-10 hours).

How Does the System Operate?

   Routine rounds, inspections, planned maintenance of equipment with automated identification (Fig. 3) can be divided into several stages:
Before starting the inspection the specialist identifies himself in the data terminal by user name and password. Without this procedure, the terminal will be unable to scan the bar codes, and hence data entry would be impossible. 
The terminal remembers the date and time of inspection.
The expert reads and decrypts the bar code tags with the terminal, which defines the class of a unit or component and identifies the specific tag.
After that the terminal offers to enter the current values of monitored equipment parameters, stores the values and provides access to expert information on past changes.
After the round the employee puts the terminal back in docking station attached to a PC. With the help of NEOLANT specialized software the data gets automatically transferred into the information system for analysis and processing. 
Further information can be printed or presented in any format: graphically, on technologic charts, in tables, reports, on the electronic map (GIS system) or on 3D model of the company, created by NEOLANT team.
Modern tag manufacturing technologies labels guarantee certain properties – i.e., the tags are impossible to remove or change without breaking. To scan the barcode, the employee must be near the monitored unit, and data entry option is available only after scanning is complete. This excludes the possibility of fake reports records and guarantees completion of routine maintenance rounds. Also, employee identification in the system and stored date and time of the inspection round ensure personal responsibility of operating personnel.

Information at Your Fingertips

   Another key advantage of automated identification technology is that mobile terminals significantly reduce time while adding up to the comfort of a planned maintenance. They allow storage and retrieval of information about the current state of company’s units, also giving the history of changes for monitored parameters and other data required by operators, up to route maps, guides and unit images.
All operating data and documentation collected in one device and available for reading at any location within the company on both HQ locations and in the field using secure Internet communication links. This means that personnel of operating units and services belongs to a single information space, to receives real-time information, updates it during the inspections, planned maintenance work, and does not waste time on unneeded movements within the company.

Monitoring Implies Visual Control

   A single information space created in NEOLANT system is supplemented by data visualization software - geographic information systems (GIS) and informational 3D models. The latter represent a 3D models of company facilities linked to relevant operational information and documentation; such models provide visual expert access to the data (by selecting objects on a 3D model). Visualization also helps business leaders to perceive information conveniently and clearly, for real-time troubleshooting and for reducing the risks associated with the human factor. 
3D model can reflect in a variety of data required by the manager or a technologist for the analysis of energy facilities and systems, such as:
the system uses color coding to indicate non-performance of a routine maintenance by the operating personnel, etc.;
the system visualizes the state of the facility, using color coding for highlighting segments of the model (Fig. 4), etc.
Usage of GIS systems to display information is advisable if the manager needs a comprehensive understanding of the status of equipment on large territories, or in geographical context.

The Problem Solved

   Automated identification technology helps to: 
prevent accidents and failures while ensuring timely repairs due to visualization of objects’ state in the information system and emergency alarm;
avoid loss of information due to data collection in electronic form directly at the location;
monitor the implementation of routine maintenance – tags are impossible to remove or change without breaking; also, there is visual alarm encoded into the 3D models;
ensure the quality of work through personal responsibility of each employee for their work of action and instant data transfer to the mangers via the 3D model;
provide convenient access to operational information through organization of operational data acquisition anywhere within the enterprise via mobile gadgets, organization and storage of operational data electronically in a single information system, and rendering with the use of 3D models or GIS systems.
NEOLANT proposes a complete cycle of works on creation of an automated identification system, from development of technical specifications, and to determine the optimal tag technology, customization, implementation, personnel training, tagging, equipment supply, creating 3D models, GIS networks, etc. Because each enterprise is unique, the company’s specialists develop, implement and adapt their solutions based on the specific situation.
Using the technology of automated identification, NEOLANT customers get a solution to the complex challenges they face – reducing the impact of human factor on the quality of monitoring and maintenance within the enterprises while improving the operating efficiency of personnel.

Work Place Heat Hazard

Hot environments in a wide range of industries present serious hazards to employee safety and health.  Heat stress, the combination of  heat, humidity and physical labor, can lead to serious illness and even death.

Long exposure to extreme heat or too much activity under a hot sun causes excessive perspiration, which can lead to heat exhaustion.  Symptoms include headache and a feeling of weakness and dizziness accompanied by nausea and vomiting, there may also be cramps.

In heat exhaustion there is excessive perspiration.  By contrast, in heat stroke, there is an absence of perspiration; an extremely high body temperature; hot, dry skin; confusion; and loss of consciousness and/or convulsions.  An extremely high body temperature can cause death.

Treatment for heat exhaustion includes:

• Move the person to a cool environment (i.e. a well-ventilated or shaded area).
• Remove or loosen their clothing.
• Increase the consumption of fluids.  (Do not force an unconscious person to drink.)

For heat stroke or if the person is unconscious:

• Reduce the body’s temperature as rapidly as possible via a cool water or sponge bath; fan the body surface.
• Contact a physician immediately.

Case Study:  Restaurant Industry

In July of 2006, MIOSHA received an employee complaint regarding heat stress in a restaurant.  The complaint alleged that employees were working in 95-degree temperatures, they felt dehydrated, the temperature may have affected an employee’s breathing, an employee was sent to the emergency room for heat exhaustion, and the conditions were unworkable.

Investigation Background

While there are no MIOSHA regulations requiring temperatures to be kept under a certain degree, Section 11(a) of Act 154 (the General Duty Clause) requires the employer to furnish to each employee, employment and a place of employment which is free from recognized hazards that are causing, or are likely to cause, death or serious physical harm to the employee.

Work operations involving high air temperatures, radiant heat sources, high humidity, and strenuous physical work activities have a high potential for inducing heat stress in employees engaged in such operations.  The work operations identified in this investigation involved employees cooking at a grill in the kitchen, chefs cooking in the dining room, and workers dishwashing in the kitchen of a restaurant.  Employees had developed and experienced heat-induced disorders such as heat exhaustion, fainting and heat fatigue, for approximately two weeks prior to the investigation.

Investigation Measurements

During the investigation wet bulb globe temperature (WBGT) measurements were obtained.  WBGT offers a useful, first-order index of the environmental contribution to heat stress; it is influenced by air temperature, radiant heat and humidity, but does not account for all the interactions between an employee and the environment.

During the investigation the WBGT measurements indicated employees were exposed to readings ranging from 77.9 to 96.3 °F on July 28, 2006, and from 82.4 to 93.2 °F on August 2, 2006.  It was noted there were outdoor record high temperature of 96 °F on

July 31, 2006, and 97 °F on August 1, 2006.

Heat Stress Violations

The investigation of employee exposure to heat stress in this workplace resulted in a citation of the General Duty Clause being issued, based on known industry standards.

The American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists (ACGIH^®) provides general controls to deal with heat stress from air temperature, as well as the interactions between employees and the environment.  The interactions below were investigated during the inspection.

Heat reduction – During the investigation it was noted that employees were exposed to radiant heat during the cooking process and were exposed to steam while dishwashing.  The employer had not provided shielding, the ventilation above the dishwasher designed for removal of steam was not functioning, and cooling garments and portable air chillers were not utilized.

An employer should shield employees from radiant heat sources, and reduce process heat and water-vapor release.  Cooling garments (vests, bandanas) can be worn to reduce the heat exposure to employees and portable air chillers can be used. 

Ventilation – During the investigation it was noted that air conditioning was provided in the dining room and office areas, but there was no air conditioning supplied to the kitchen area for cooking and dishwashing.  It was also noted that the air conditioning in the dining room was not functioning at the time of the inspection.  Circulating fans were used in the kitchen areas; however, it was not effective since air that exceeds 95 °F can increase the heat load on the body.

An employer should provide general air movement through use of supply and exhaust ventilation.

Administrative controls – During the investigation it was noted that breaks were not taken by employees according to the ACGIH^®recommendations for frequency found in Table 2 of the Heat Stress section of the Threshold Limit Values (TLV)booklet.  Employees were not allowed sufficient recovery time for heat exposure.  Breaks that were taken by dishwashers and dining room chefs were taken outdoors in a hot environment, not in a cool area.

An employer should set acceptable exposure times to heat, should allow sufficient recovery for employees exposed to heat, and should limit physiological strain by reducing heavy activity.  As metabolic rate increases from work demand, an employee’s exposure to heat stress can result in an excessive heart rate and elevated body core temperature by not allowing for proper recovery from heat exposure for the body.

Training – During the investigation it was noted that employees were not trained on the signs of symptoms of heat stress and were not permitted to practice self limitation to exposure.

Employers should train employees and supervisors by providing accurate verbal and written instructions about heat stress, including self-determination of exposures.  Employees should be aware of the signs and symptoms of heat stress and should be encouraged to detect these signs in themselves and in coworkers.  Employees should also be permitted to practice self limitation of heat exposure based on these signs.

Heat stress hygiene practices – During the investigation it was noted that most employees did drink water, but were not monitored or encouraged to drink cool water every 20 minutes.  Additionally, aside from the clothing worn by dishwashers, employees were required to wear uniforms that through fabric and style (high collars, neckties, and chef’s hats) limited evaporation.

Employers should encourage fluid replacement and the use of proper clothing.  Employees should drink small volumes (approximately 1 cup) of cool liquid every 20 minutes.  Free movement of cool, dry air over the skin’s surface maximizes heat removal through evaporation of sweat from the skin; water-vapor-impermeable or thermally insulated clothing restricts heat removal.

Medical surveillance – The investigation revealed the employer did not screen employees to identify those employees more susceptible to heat.

Employers should allow pre-placement screening to identify those employees susceptible to systemic heat injury.  Employees who take medications that may compromise normal cardiovascular, blood pressure, body temperature regulation, renal or sweat gland functions; and those employees who abuse alcohol, may have an increased susceptibility to heat stress.  Employers can also encourage healthy life styles and ideal body weight.

Acclimatization – During the investigation it was noted the employees were acclimated to the heat exposure.

Acclimatization is a gradual physiological adaptation that improves an individual’s ability to tolerate heat stress.  Full-heat acclimatization requires up to three weeks of continued physical activity under heat-stress conditions similar to those anticipated for the work, with a loss occurring after four days.  Employers can develop a plan to expose employees to heat at gradually increasing rate over a five-day period. 

Company Abatement

The employer submitted the information below as actions taken to address the issue:

• Air conditioning equipment in restaurant was repaired.
• Cooling vests and cooling bandanas were purchased for employees.
• Temperature monitoring control devices were purchased and place in the kitchen and dining room.
• A temperature monitoring and tracking procedure was implemented.
• Management attended a MIOSHA safety in the workplace seminar.
• Signs were posted educating the staff about heat stress and how to recognize the symptoms in themselves and others.
• Employees were given access to cool beverages.
• Major renovations of the building which would include replacing HVAC equipment were planned.

CET Division Services

If you have any questions on heat stress, or need a workplace evaluation, please call the MIOSHA Consultation Education and Training (CET) Division at 517.322.1809. 

Additional information and handouts can be obtained from www.michigan.gov/miosha;  www.osha.gov; and www.cdc.gov/niosh/topics/heatstress.

3D-printed sugar network to help grow artificial liver

Researchers have moved a step closer to creating a synthetic liver, after a US team created a template for blood vessels to grow into, using sugar.

Scientists have long been experimenting with the 3D printing of cells and blood vessels, building up tissue structure layer by layer with artificial cells.

But the synthetically engineered cells often die before the tissue is formed.

The technology, in which a 3D printer uses sugar as its building material, could one day be used for transplants.

The study appears in the journal Nature Materials.

Dr Jordan Miller from the lab of the lead scientist, Dr Christopher Chen, at the University of Pennsylvania, told BBC News: "The big challenge in understanding how to grow large artificial tissue is how to keep all the cells alive in these engineered tissues, because when you put a lot of cells together, they end up taking nutrients and oxygen from neighbouring cells and end up suffocating and dying," he said.

The body's cardiovascular system - blood vessels - solves this issue with natural cells and tissues.

So a group of scientists from the University of Pennsylvania and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) decided to build a synthetic vascular system that would serve the same purpose - by creating a place where the future artificial blood vessels would be located.

Dr Miller's colleague Prof Sangeeta Bhatia, from MIT, said that the technique was similar to creating the shape of a vase in wax, surrounding it with molten metal and then melting the wax away.

Sugar use
But instead of wax, the team used sugar.

"So far, it's been difficult to make organs big enough so that they could provide useful function - and if you implant any tissue thicker than about a millimetre, we can't provide it enough without also engineering blood vessels into the tissue," said Prof Bhatia.

"We created a network of places that we wish vessels to grow into, so they would become piping into the tissue, and we printed those in 3D out of sugar.

"Sugar is a very nice material that can be dissolved away in the presence of living tissue very friendly to biological tissue.

"We then surrounded the network with the cells that we would like to be fed by the blood vessels when the tissue is implanted - and once we have this structure of pipes-to-be and tissue, we dissolve away the sugar using water."

Although the researches did not do any implantation, they said they had wanted to demonstrate that it was possible to build the thicker tissue that could be fed by this network of pipes - and this way, to create a full organ in future.

"We showed that you can use a 3D printer to print an arbitrary network of vessels for any tissue shape or any network of blood vessels, and then surround them with cells that you would like to create the organ out of," said Prof Bhatia.

"We tried to make a liver, so we surrounded them with liver cells, but one could do it with any other tissue."

Exciting findings Prof Martin Birchall, a surgeon scientist at University College London, said the research answered "a lot of fundamental problems in tissue engineering."

"The idea of 3D printing has been around for several years, and certainly it is possible to print virtually anything," he said.

"You can use biomaterials, cells or a combination these, and this group of scientists has correctly identified that the sticking point in all this is going to be vascularity - blood vessels - making sure that you've got sufficient nutrients going in and waste coming out of something that otherwise is going to be a solid block of stuff.

"And if you're going to build something like a kidney, you're going to need that.

"I'm fascinated by their proposals, they're quite a way from clinic yet, the next step is going to be testing it on animals, but it is certainly very exciting."

Source : BBC News

SafetyFirst : China Pilot Failed to Locate Runway Before Crash

A commercial airline pilot failed to locate the runway before landing and abandoned the plane after it crashed in northeastern China two years ago, the government said Friday and called for the chief pilot to be prosecuted.

The 2010 crash of a Henan Airlines plane killed 44 people and injured 52 and was China's first major commercial air disaster in nearly six years.

The State Administration of Work Safety also suggested in its investigation report that the airline should be fined 5 million yuan ($795,000) for lax safety management.

The agency's investigation said chief pilot Qi Quanjun violated aviation rules during the descent, did not locate the runway before landing and abandoned the crashed aircraft.

The Embraer E-190 jet hit the ground 690 meters (2,260 feet) short of the runway at the Lindu airport in Heilongjiang province's Yichun city, then burst into flames. Media reports at the time said fog shrouded the runway during the landing.

The Civil Aviation Administration of China has said that a 2008-2009 investigation had found that 200 pilots falsified their flying histories, with more than half of them working for Henan Airlines' parent company. It said airlines desperate for staff had been hiring pilots whose resumes had been faked. The most recent report didn't say if Qi was among those who doctored his resume.

The report said Qi should have his pilot's license revoked, be removed from his post and expelled from the Communist Party, and should also face criminal charges though it didn't specify what they would be.

State media said in 2010 that Qi was a former People's Liberation Army pilot and had been unable to speak after the crash due to severe injuries to his face.

Full-tilt expansion of Chinese air traffic in the 1990s led to a series of crashes that gave China the reputation of being unsafe. The poor record prompted the government to improve safety drastically, from airlines to new air traffic management systems at airports.

Prior to the Yichun disaster, the last major passenger jet crash in China was in November 2004, when a China Eastern airplane plunged into a lake in northern China, killing all 53 on board and two on the ground.

Source : ABC News

Tiger Airways embarks on TV ad campaign as it moves to boost its profile

A YEAR after it was grounded for safety reasons, Tiger Airways Australia says its biggest challenge is capacity being pumped into the market by its competitors, and convincing travellers to try its improved services.

Tiger Australia chief executive Andrew David said complaints were down dramatically as the airline concentrated on boosting its on-time performance and consumers became used to its low-cost model.

The Singapore-backed airline is embarking on its first TV advertising campaign as it moves to boost its profile and "keep the duopoly honest".

Tiger spent six weeks out of action in July and August last year after the Civil Aviation Safety Authority grounded it over safety concerns.

It has increased services out of Melbourne during the past year.

The grounding and its inability to fully use its local fleet of 10 aircraft combined with high fuel prices to produce a $61 million operating loss last financial year.

Yesterday it began the trek to full utilisation when it launched its Sydney base, which will provide 150 jobs and be home to three aircraft, with the start of services to the Gold Coast, offering 1400 extra daily seats on the route.

That will be followed next month by Sydney-Brisbane services and then more flights to Melbourne to bring three aircraft into service by early September.

It launched the base with sale fares from $10 to Melbourne, $30 to the Gold Coast and $40 to Brisbane. An 11th aircraft, due next month, will initially be used as an operational spare to maintain the airline's spectacular on-time performance improvement before it looks at further growth.

"The first base for us is to get all these aircraft flying," Mr David said. "We're never going to make any money with the aircraft on the ground, so by September we've got full utilisation.

"We've then got to keep going and we've got to build some scale.

"Yes, we've got a great low-cost base but you're never going to make any money if you don't sweat the assets, so that's first priority.

"The great thing with Singaporean shareholders is, of course, we've got to start making a profit," but they take a long-term view.

Many pundits wrote off Tiger at the time of the grounding, but it has since carried more than a million passengers and CASA says it is happy with the way it operates.

Mr David said the airline was working hard to get the flying public back on side.

"We have to keep working at it and working hard and making sure we get the message out with the public, because I don't think everybody is aware we're back and I don't think we've overcome all of the sins of the past," he said.

The Tiger chief said he did not see weak consumer sentiment or the two-speed economy as a problem for Tiger because people would move from expensive business fares to cheaper options.

The biggest challenge was the capacity that had entered the market, he said.

"This coming November, on Melbourne-Hobart the capacity will be up 60 per cent," he said. "We announced we were coming back into the Hobart market, Virgin has added more seats, Jetstar has added more seats."

Source : STEVE CREEDY, AVIATION WRITER From: The Australian

Safety : Indonesia Airline Boom Raise New Safety Question

Dozens of fledgling airlines that have sprung up to serve Indonesia's island-hopping new middle class could jeopardize the archipelago's recently improved safety reputation, aviation experts say.

The trend threatens to erode higher standards established during what one analyst called a "tremendous amount of soul searching" by major carriers and the government after 2007, when frequent crashes prompted the European Union to ban all Indonesian airlines from landing on its runways for two years.

With growth rates of nearly 20 percent per year, Indonesia is one of Asia's most rapidly expanding airline markets, but the country is struggling to provide qualified pilots, mechanics, air traffic controllers and updated airport technology to ensure safety. And with so many new, small carriers, it's hard to monitor all their standards.

"We are not ready for this boom," said Ruth Simatupang, an Indonesian aviation consultant and former safety investigator.

Indonesia's two largest airlines — national carrier Garuda and rapidly expanding boutique airline Lion Air — haven't had a fatal accident in five years and eight years, respectively. But small passenger and cargo carriers plus military aircraft have kept the frequency of crashes to about once every two months, according to statistics compiled by the Aviation Safety Network.

Just how fast Indonesia's airline market is growing came under a spotlight with Wednesday's deadly crash of a Sukhoi Superjet-100 plane during a demonstration flight. While both the plane and the pilot were Russian, the flight was packed with representatives of local airlines that the manufacturer hoped would purchase the jetliner.

The number of air passengers in Indonesia jumped by 10 million in a year to 53 million in 2010, according to the government statistics agency, and the upward trend continued last year.

"Infrastructure hasn't kept pace with the growth of the airlines," said Shukor Yusof, an aviation analyst in Singapore for Standard & Poors.

He said the government needs to "spend a vast amount of money" to expand safety monitoring for the new carriers and invest in airport runways and technology. He added that the relative ease with which new airlines can be established, though tightened in recent years, has been a concern in the aviation community for years.

In the past five years, Indonesia has added 36 new passenger and cargo airlines, bringing the total to 86 — many of them small carriers serving outlying islands where the only travel alternatives are ferries.

Feeding the demand for new air routes are Indonesia's population of 240 million, its geography of 18,000 islands and an economy that grew at a 6.5 percent clip last year, creating a larger middle class eager to travel.

"Indonesia is a natural market for growth," said Brendan Sobie, chief Southeast Asia representative for the Centre for Asia Pacific Aviation. "It's one of the world's biggest populations and one of the world's most underserved markets for airlines."

Transportation official Herry Bakti Singayuda insists that Indonesia's rapid airline growth is still compatible with safety.

"We evaluate the operators," said Singayuda, who directs the Air Transport Department under the Ministry of Transportation. "We control that growth based on their capability, their facilities and personnel."

He added that the government has expanded flight schools, hired new inspectors and added 10 regional offices to keep up with the new airlines.

Yusof agrees the government and major carriers have markedly improved safety standards in the five years since the EU blacklist, which followed fatal crashes by Garuda and now-defunct Adam Air in 2007.

The government responded with a raft of new regulations and training schools, while Garuda invested millions of dollars to train staff and upgrade its fleet. Lion Air, which recently placed the largest-ever order for Boeing aircraft — 230 planes listed at some $22 billion — has also sought to improve safety, though it took a blow when several of its pilots were arrested in recent months with illicit drugs.

"Garuda and Lion Air have done a tremendous amount of soul searching in terms of safety and in bringing in experts ... to help them clean up their act," Yusof said. The newer airlines, however, may need more scrutiny.

Smaller airlines serving the domestic market may have less money to invest in training and hiring qualified pilots and mechanics, said Simatupang, the Indonesian aviation consultant.

"There are a lot of new pilots whose flying hours don't meet the minimum standards, but because the operators need them, they use them sometimes," she said.

Like Yusof, Simatupang called on the government to do more to regulate the new airlines.

"I always say to the government, please do the new infrastructure and safety regulations first," she said. "And then allow the airlines to expand."

Source : Thejakartapost

Safety News : Preventing Oil In The Oil And Gas Environment

The risks associated with fire in the petrochemical industry, whether it be on production platforms at sea or on shore at oil terminals and storage facilities, have been brought into sharp focus by a number of high profile incidents, resulting in tremendous damage to infrastructure and sadly, in some extreme cases, the large-scale loss of life. This has caused the industry to look at new approaches such as Video Smoke Detection (VSD) to protect key elements of their infrastructure and to ensure the safety of workers by providing early fire detection. Jon East, Engineering Consultant at D-Tec, explains the benefits of VSD.

Back in 1988, the devastation wrought by the world's worst offshore oil disaster on the Piper Alpha platform in the North Sea was a major shock and wake-up call to the sector. In this case, a gas leak resulted in blasts on the rig and sparked a major fire, which engulfed the structure - then the largest platform in the North Sea - leading to 167 fatalities. This traumatic event demonstrated all too clearly the hazardous nature of the oil and gas environment, and the serious repercussions that occur when problems are not detected early enough and a fire is allowed to take hold.

More recently - in December 2005 - we were again reminded of the ever-present danger, this time manifested in the biggest blaze seen in the UK since World War II, at Hertfordshire Oil Storage Terminal in Buncefield, near Hemel Hempstead. Prior to the fire, the terminal was handling 2.37 million metric tonnes of oil products annually. The problem at Buncefield resulted from the overflowing of unleaded petrol being pumped into a storage tank. A rich fuel and air vapour rapidly formed and spread across the site and set off a number of major explosions - heard for miles around - and an associated fire. This unprecedented incident took in 20 storage tanks and caused extensive damage to the site and adjacent business premises, and the evacuation of a significant area around the facility.

So what measures can be taken to help minimise the fire hazards in this sort of environment and provide an early warning of fire, to protect key assets against the potential of a problem escalating into a full scale disaster, if left unchecked?

A technology based on the intelligent analysis of CCTV images is being increasingly deployed to protect such valuable assets from fire. This solution is aptly referred to as Video Smoke Detection (VSD) - a technology pioneered by D-Tec - and is a capability that is now operational in a wide range of sites worldwide.

Typical projects, across the petrochemicals industry, include for example using video smoke detection to protect the generator rooms on North Sea rigs. These assets are essential to the smooth and ongoing operation of the multi-million pound platforms and are particularly challenging installations, as they are prone to heavy vibration and atmospheric contamination. Another application is the monitoring of a huge on-shore oil terminal connected to oil-fields.

Benefits of Video Smoke Detection

The beauty of VSD is that it takes detection to the fire rather than waiting for the fire to come to the detector. This approach is ideally suited to the large, extensive nature of oil terminals and platforms where it is just not practical to cost-effectively place conventional detectors close enough to the area of risk to provide the required level of fire detection.

In extensive structures or sites covering a large geographic area, there is a high reliance - as far as traditional fire detection solutions are concerned - of smoke overcoming distance before being detected. This can mean that with conventional detectors, it can be many minutes before a fire alarm is activated - if at all - making it much more problematic to tackle a blaze, as it is likely to have reached a more advanced stage. Given the speed that fires can grow in such a combustible environment, early smoke detection is even more critical for the oil and gas industry.

Thankfully, distance is not a limitation faced by Video Smoke Detection (VSD), as this technology is able to utilise images from standard CCTV cameras and analyse these, by applying sophisticated algorithms to detect smoke. By programming the software to look for anticipated motion patterns of smoke over a specified area within the range of a CCTV camera image, and looking for pixel changes, VSD has the potential to deliver an exceptionally fast response - typically in seconds.

Crucially, once smoke has been detected, the system can alert the operator as well as deliver a visual representation of the smoke on the system's monitor.

Consequently, VSD is not reliant on the proximity of smoke to a detector; whether the camera is 10 or 100 metres away from a risk area, VSD will detect smoke in the same amount of time.

Although it is claimed that other camera-based systems are able to detect smoke, the reality is that these are really motion detectors or obscuration-change detectors which are unable to differentiate between smoke and other sources of movement and hence are prone to false smoke alarms.

In terms of practicality, the CCTV cameras associated with VSD can be fixed in conveniently accessible places, rather than being positioned well out of reach, as is the case with conventional detectors. Additionally, as CCTV can cover a much larger area, fewer cameras would be required, compared to smoke detectors, for a given size of oil platform. It may also be possible to take advantage of already installed security CCTV cameras for some of the monitoring.

IP enhances visual smoke detection capabilities

VSD's capabilities have been further enhanced by the potential for CCTV camera images and alarms to be distributed, for review, over a network to a number of viewing locations. This is being realised through solutions that readily integrate the well-recognised advantages of VSD with IP (Internet Protocol) based functionality.

In practice, this advance means that, for ease of management, it is perfectly possible for a number of geographically dispersed oil rigs to be monitored from the same control room, and more to be added should the need arise. This can also be invaluable for unmanned platforms where, should an alarm be activated; the remote operator actually has a visual indication of what is going on.

As a consequence, an operator can make an informed decision there and then as to whether a firefighting team needs to be sent to the platform. This is in contrast to more conventional smoke alarm systems, which just sound an alarm without the possibility of ascertaining the severity of an incident without automatically paying a visit - a costly process.

There is also the ability, with this flexible approach to VSD, for changes to configuration, testing and diagnosis to be carried out remotely - reducing cost and minimising delay.

Integrating Smoke and Flame Detection

Another big leap forward with VSD is the potential, for the first time, to combine smoke and flame detection. This is ideal for more hazardous situations, such as those thrown up by the petrochemical industry.

A key benefit of the application of an advanced flame detection algorithm - in addition to smoke detection - is that it is now perfectly possible to deliver a layered response, typically alarming on smoke first and then confirming again if fire appears. There is also the potential for the application of this capability in designated areas at night where flame rather than smoke is likely to be the most visible sign of an incident.

Fast Track Detection for effective fire protection

The message to fire and safety professionals concerned with the petrochemical industry is this: Now is the right time to look again at Video Smoke Detection (VSD) for key projects, whether it be an oil refinery on land or a production platform at sea.

Ultimately, the effectiveness and ease of installation of VSD, particularly in the shape of the networkable and dual smoke and flame detection capabilities, makes a compelling case for adopting this technology, where conventional approaches are simply not going to provide the early warning necessary to minimise the very real risks associated with fire.

Source : Jon East - Engineering Consultant - D-Tec (part of AD Group)

Safety News : PPE Designs For Marine Fire Fighting

Marine firefighting encompasses activities to extinguish any type of fire in a marine environment. For many years, this meant dealing with fires on seagoing vessels, or more specifically, shipping. In this article, Richard Cranham, International Sales Manager at Bristol Uniforms, sheds light on the various fire hazards at sea and the latest protection outfits designed to meet new regulatory standards.

Nature of marine fire hazards

At one time, marine fire risks were primarily associated with shipping and the vessels or their cargoes. In the 21st century, however, the seas and oceans are increasingly becoming sites for static structures. Many of these are associated with oil, gas and other mineral exploration and harvesting.

Clearly the range of fire hazards associated with these different activities varies widely. In some situations, firefighters will be able to work onboard, depending on the severity of the fire, but, following a blow out or explosion aboard an oil rig or gas production platform, fighting the ensuing fire may only be possible from firefighting vessels.

Also, the characteristics of the fires facing firefighters will reflect the volatility and flammability of the materials involved in the conflagration. Some materials burn much hotter than others. Some will throw off burning shards or molten materials, some can be unpredictable either due to the composition of the flammable materials involved (in particular hydrocarbons and chemicals) or prevailing weather conditions. Wind speed and direction can be particularly variable out at sea and can cause rapid changes in the levels of hazard experienced by firefighters.

Personal protection equipment (PPE) to suit the conditions

As with land-based firefighting, the type of personal protection equipment required is increasingly being designed to protect against the specific nature of the fire hazards most commonly encountered.

New marine firefighting standards introduced for use throughout Europe equate the hazards, if not the conditions, associated with typical shipping fires with those commonly experienced in structural fires. This has led to the new Marine Equipment Directive (MarED) standards, enshrined in EU Commission Directive 2010/68/EU, to adopt EN 469 (2005) as its benchmark for basic protective clothing for firefighting (A.1/3.3). This means that, throughout the EU, local fire & rescue authorities can deal with ship-board fires occurring in rivers, docks and coastal waters wearing their regular structural fire kit.

For parts of the world outside the EU, a new international standard has recently been developed. The new standard, BS ISO 22488:2011 [Ships and marine technology – shipboard firefighters’ outfits (protective clothing, gloves, boots and helmet)], has drawn substantially on the work undertaken for the recently issued European Standard.

Close proximity firefighting involving gas and oil fires requires protection from the intense heat and flames produced in such ‘hot fires’ and call for quite different types of protective clothing. In some circumstances this type of firefighting will require PPE satisfying ISO 15538 (2001) - Protective clothing with a reflective outer surface (A.1/3.3).

New PPE designs to meet new standards

Yellow outerlayer on marine firefighting garments signify its use by emergency incident crews battling different types of fires at sea. Garments meeting EN 469 (2005), as used by European municipal firefighters, can also be deployed by them when dealing with shipping fires on river estuaries, in ports and docks and in coastal waters.

For fighting fires involving shipping at sea, and for other marine fire emergencies, an alternative is the new design fleet suits which are being introduced to coincide with the implementation of the new EU Commission Directive.

As with all PPE, compatibility is important and appropriately matched helmet, boots and gloves should be supplied. In Europe, these should be to MarED approved standards, and include firefighting helmet to EN 443, gloves to EN 659 and firefighter boots to EN 15090 whilst the new international standard, BS ISO 22488:2011, when introduced, may be adopted in other parts of the world.

Safeyt news : Fire Protection

Corrosion-free alternative for onboard safety SAFETY is a key priority for the offshore oil and gas industry, and ensuring safety onboard any production facility is absolutely vital. Critical to delivering onboard safety is the fire deluge system which, designed to protect areas where fire is likely to spread rapidly, is now commonplace on offshore facilities.

However, traditionally used carbon steel-fabricated deluge systems are prone to corrosion when carrying saltwater, which can restrict or even block flow as rust forms, in turn reducing the effectiveness of the system.

Corrosion-free alternatives prevent such issues and give peace of mind to the offshore oil and gas sector. Presented in this white paper is a case study demonstrating the benefits that can be gained by specifying these alternatives.

TRADITIONAL TECHNOLOGY

Active fire protection systems, such as the fire deluge system, are essential for onboard safety and are designed to activate either mechanically or electronically in order to extinguish fires. While relatively simple in design and installation, their operation is essential for the safety of onboard personnel, asset protection and preventing event escalation.

In the offshore oil and gas industry, the risk of rapid fire spread is greater than most and as such, the fire deluge system needs to provide full assurance to the onboard team that it will not fail to deliver on any critical firewater or utility piping installations.

Traditionally, carbon steel-fabricated deluge systems have been installed to ensure onboard safety, however, the continual flow of water may cause potential blockages of small diameter pipe work and discharge nozzles. These are prone to corrosion that can cause vital systems to fail. This has resulted in the industry suffering from costly shutdowns and repairs, and in the worst-case scenario, risk of failure in an emergency. In addition, traditional systems also require constant maintenance, cleaning and testing, meaning additional unnecessary and costly downtime for the facility.

NEXT-GENERATION ALTERNATIVE

The problems encountered with traditional systems have since spurred the development of a new generation of fire-deluge systems that use synthetic rubber instead of traditional materials such as rigid steel, titanium, copper nickel and fiber glass piping.

By utilising synthetic rubber, systems can now be created that are non-corroding and can withstand jet fires with a heat flux of 390kW/m2, temperatures above 2552 deg F/ 1400 deg C and flame speeds that exceed the speed of sound. This makes it an ideal material choice for use in deluge and sprinkler systems on offshore oil and gas installations and ships, as well as other hazardous environments.

Due to its flexible characteristics, this new technology can be used to either partly or completely replace old systems and is also an ideal solution for temporary deluge systems when high safety levels need to be maintained during modification work to existing systems. The flexibility of the system allows it to be moved and reused (if temporary). Compared with rigid pipe systems, it requires fewer construction drawings, and the need for accurate measurements is reduced as the system can be designed and modified on site.

PROVEN SOLUTION

A recent example of how a traditional carbon steel-fabricated deluge system failed and was successfully replaced by a new, synthetic rubber alternative can be seen on Maersk’s FPSO Ngujima-Yin, a floating production storage and offloading (FPSO) vessel located in the Vincent Field off Western Australia. The vessel commenced operation in 2008 and has a daily production capacity of 120,000 barrels of oil and 100 million standard cubic feet of gas. The existing carbon steel seawater deluge system became corroded only two years after installation and required a significant number of man hours to carry out regular maintenance, cleaning and testing. A replacement was therefore required to reduce the long-term cost of ensuring essential fire protection at all times.

The challenge with the installation was to replace the existing fire deluge system throughout the FPSO modules without affecting the safety of the vessel as it continued output. The system required approximately 5,249 ft (1,600 metres) of pipe work, from 1 inch to 8 inches (25 mm to 200 mm) diameters, and associated fittings and accessories.

SYSTEM CONSIDERATION

Several factors had to be considered prior to specifying a replacement system. As the FPSO is a live production vessel, it must operate within a stringent set of safety regulations, requiring complete deluge coverage at all times. A temporary system would have to be rigged up while the existing pipes were removed and installation of the new system was undertaken.

Replacing a conventional deluge system requires hot work such as welding, cutting, brazing, soldering and grinding, which poses a number of issues when carried out on a live hydrocarbon facility. Any activity that generates heat, sparks, flames or other potential sources of ignition in an atmosphere that may be flammable requires a hot work permit. This is only granted after an in-depth risk assessment and also requires ongoing monitoring. To secure a permit, it may be necessary to isolate part of the hydrocarbon systems on a vessel, shut down production modules or use special habitat equipment. As such, hot work is usually only carried out as a last resort.

A number of material options were considered, including rigid copper-nickel and flexible synthetic rubber. Copper nickel has an extensive field-proven record and is cheap to purchase. However, it requires significant pre-fabrication and onboard construction. In contrast, synthetic rubber is easier to install and can be bent to a radius equal to five times its diameter, meaning it can negotiate minor clashes and obstructions as the installation progresses, while maintaining its structural integrity. Compared with rigid pipe systems, fewer detailed isometric construction drawings are required with a synthetic rubber system, and the need for accurate measurements is reduced as it can be designed and modified on site. This means a flexible synthetic rubber FPSO module deluge system can be installed in less than three months, whereas the installation time for an equivalent typical rigid system would be significantly longer. Taking these factors into account, Maersk contracted Trelleborg Offshore as an engineering, procurement, construction and installation (EPCI) supplier to install its synthetic rubber Elastopipe™ corrosion-free fire safety deluge system on the FPSO. CORROSION-FREE PROTECTION The Trelleborg Offshore system was developed as a result of both customer and industry feedback. Its design incorporates three core layers: the fire shield, pressure liner and inner layer. These combine to give the system high tolerance to impact, jet fire (2,552 deg F / 1,400 deg C for one hour), explosion and water hammer. The system is lightweight, durable and easy to cut, fit and install. Compared with a conventional carbon steel-based deluge system, which requires more frequent testing and maintenance and needs replacing at regular intervals over the lifetime of the platform or vessel, rubber deluge systems deliver a very low total life cost. The flexible piping system offers a 30-year minimum maintenance life, and its corrosion-free performance means system testing frequency can be reduced to statutory requirements.

INSTALLATION

The regulatory bodies governing deluge systems for FPSOs and similar structures did not have specific regulations to cover the flexible piping system, so there were early inquiries from independent verification societies into its concept and feasibility. For the project to proceed, approval from a number of national and industry authorities needed to be obtained. As the Maersk Ngujima-Yin is a Danish registered FPSO, the Danish Maritime Organization (DMO) had to approve the use of the flexible piping system onboard the vessel.

National Offshore Petroleum Safety Authority (NOPSA) approval was also required as the FPSO was producing oil in Australian waters. Finally, the installation had to be approved by Lloyd’s Register, which classed the ship. All authorities involved approved the solution proposed. The materials for the first module and the temporary deluge system were air freighted to Australia and were onboard the vessel within a week. The system, which comprises approximately 5,249 ft of flexible piping, titanium fittings, nozzles, pipe supports, valves and strainers, was pre-fabricated on board the Maersk Ngujima-Yin. This included cutting pipe runs to the required length and fitting the necessary ancillary components.

The first installation on the M60 module required 912 ft of flexible pipe and was completed in less than two weeks. The synthetic rubber-based flexible piping system was installed without any welding or other hot work, such as high-speed cutting, which could compromise the safety of the vessel. The rubber was cut using a specialised hand-held pipe cutter, while joints were made mechanically using air-operated hand tools and proprietary clips. Without the risk of sparks or naked flames, production and processing could continue unaffected.

A temporary Elastopipe deluge system for each module was installed before the existing steel pipes were removed and the permanent flexible pipe work and fixings were completed. This method ensured that full fire protection was retained throughout the project.

The fast-track project was carried out by 10 expert rope access pipe fitters and two supervisors. No lost time incidents (LTIs) were reported during installation.The installation team worked independently, without disturbing activity onboard or impacting production. The team implemented the full scope of activity in full compliance with both Woodside’s golden safety rules and Maersk’s divisional management system, which includes the Maersk permit to work system. The flexibility and light weight of the deluge system allowed very rapid installation, compared to a rigid pipe system, as it could be swiftly configured to confined spaces. The first two modules were completed in just a month, and all seven modules were completed and full-scale tested within three months, with no disruption to oil and gas production.

CONCLUSION

Safety on offshore oil and gas installations is of paramount importance, and having an effective and reliable deluge system is vital to ensuring onboard safety.In the harsh offshore and onshore oil and gas industry, you need the assurance of a material that delivers proven performance for your critical firewater and utility piping installations, without fail.

Source : Oil & Gas News Online