Safety & Maintenance
The Use of Drones for Industrial Inspections to Reduce Fatalities
T
he statistics of confined space inspection and related injuries and fatalities continues to present a revealing truth. Around 2.1 million workers enter such spaces annually and, even with increased health and safety measures, the death toll of such activities remains unacceptably high. By far the biggest reason for such an activity is to carry out routine maintenance. Drone technology presents a unique method by which such tasks can be performed without the need to put human life at risk. While this might not have been the case a decade, or even five years ago, rapid advances to create unique solutions that can cope with the challenges of confined space inspection is a reality today. So why do the injury and death figures continue to mount up? One reason is, perhaps, a historical reluctance to embrace cutting-edge technology. Industries, such as mining, oil and gas and petrochemicals are, understandably, hesitant to change accepted methods of inspection for fear of the unknown. However, with the dawn of a new era of drones and inspection equipment, each day this continues really does cost lives.
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16 IMD MAY 2021
Why Use Drones? In the United States alone, there’s around two deaths per week involving the inspection of confined spaces. In Australia, the figure is a little over one per week. The main causes of death are listed as: » Asphyxiation » Poisoning » Engulfment » Oxygen deficiency » Drowning » Explosion » Electrocution This makes for pretty grim reading and only serves to accentuate why industries must look elsewhere for effective confined space inspection solutions. The greatest advantage of using drones is, of course, to reduce accidents and fatalities. Such machines are impervious to toxic gases and non-oxygen atmospheres. Neither do they require scaffolding or rope systems to be erected.
