Project description
Keeping offshore workers safe and sound
The majority of oil and gas production in Europe takes place offshore at some 550 installations. Drilling for oil and gas offshore is one of the most dangerous professions. Since many risks are unavoidable, workers’ safety is a top priority. The EU-funded OffshoreMuster project is developing new technology to facilitate the safe mustering and evacuation of offshore workers. This emergency response decision support system will allow for the continuous localisation and health monitoring of crew members. It will also detect if there are people at sea at distances of up to 1.5 km and ensure robust communication – even during massive data link breakdowns. The project is aiming to bring this technology to market.
Objective
OffshoreMuster introduces as step-change in mustering and evacuation management in offshore platforms thanks to its unique features: continuous localisation and health monitoring of crew-members, detection of people at sea at distances of up to 1.5km and robust communication even in the events of massive data link breakdowns.
Off-shore infrastructure has been growing steadily over the past years. To meet increasing demand, most future growth will have to come from fields that are more technically challenging and expensive to extract from than previously, such as deep- and ultra-deep-water offshore sites, This growing demand will drive investment in offshore oil & gas projects, and the increased activity in turn will drive an increase in demand for offshore assets to support these activities.
This expansion comes at a great cost; upstream oil & gas has one of the highest severe-injury rates in the world, with a 2015–2016 rate of 148.9 injuries per 100,000 workers. This rate is unsurprising, considering the industry’s culture in which worker safeguards may not get the attention they deserve. Fatality rates are equally staggering: offshore workers face an average of 27.1 deaths per 100,000 employees. In every case with casualties, there were extensive shortcomings to the evacuation procedures. These are exacerbated by a lack of communication between the command structures and the platform’s crew, or the crew themselves.
OffshoreMuster is based on the successful outcomes of previous R&D projects, during which the consortium partners successfully developed a system for safe mustering and evacuation in marine environments. Having demonstrated the technology, we aim to enhance the safety of personnel working in off-shore oil & gas installations and assets. By bringing the technology to the market, the consortium partners aim to generate €38m in revenue and €17m in profit within 5 years after entry in the market, while generating 77 jobs.
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IA - Innovation actionCoordinator
4003 Limassol
Cyprus
The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.