Remote monitoring for safety of workers in industrial plants: Learned lessons beyond technical issues

Most tasks during a turnaround in a refinery imply rush, works in crowded risky zones and dangerous confined spaces. Current safety protocols are mostly based on tasks schedules, human supervision all along the refinery and Personal Protection Equipment (PPE). These protocols, although very costly and usually exhaustive, are prone to human errors and infractions that can become fatal. Localization techniques and communication technologies are two excellent means to help minimize latent risks for worker’s safety. This work describes a set of lessons learned in real initiatives for remote monitoring of workers’ activities in refineries. It focuses especially on aspects beyond technical issues usually treated in the literature, i.e., deployment, logistics, and sociological issues.