Knowing Where Everyone Is – At All Times

Some might consider keeping tabs on everyone at all times as “micro-managing,” but, for those working in industrial fields, it is quickly becoming the missing link between catastrophe and saving lives.

Patented by innovators Dr. Uwe Schaible and Jonathan Fava, the SCAN~LINK Armour System detects people on site—rather than just objects. Using RFID Personal Detection, SCAN~LINK equipment is designed to create a whole new way to back-up safely—and it’s an EVOLUTION—so to speak!

How it all Began:

Jonathan Fava saw the need for a very precise detection solution––a solution that would detect people rather than objects. He was not satisfied with current obstacle detection systems that detect everything behind reversing vehicles. Jonathan realized that the important part was to detect people rather than objects, and he launched into industry market research that strongly favored a more precise solution. And there it was, voila—the idea for SCAN~LINK was spawned!

How it Works:

Radio-frequency identification (RFID) is a wireless solution that uses radio frequency to identify and track objects. Passive RFID tags with a unique SCAN~LINK ID are discreetly embedded into the safety apparel of workers. The antennas/readers are mounted on the back of mobile equipment. When a person wearing the RFID equipped Armour apparel walks behind the equipment and is detected by the antenna, it alerts the operator that a person has been detected, and not a random object.

Oil & Gas Application:

In the oil and gas industry, the SCAN~LINK solution is proving to be an essential part of everyday operations. Detecting people on site is no longer a desire—it’s a must.

The SCAN~LINK system is housed in a rugged and sealed weatherproof enclosure, and the sensor unit uses an integrated antenna to monitor the area behind the equipment. The system is designed to detect the passive RFID tags in the workers apparel, and uses a reliable wireless link to relay information to a display unit located inside the cab of the equipment.

Workers wear hard hats and safety vests that have multiple, strategically positioned, passive RFID tags in them to increase the probability and reliability of detection. So, in cases where equipment operators can’t see because of site congestion and visibility restrictions and in addition to rear view mirrors, SCAN~LINK provides a far more accurate and superior worker detection zone. Does this save lives? You bet it does!

Who’s Using  SCAN~LINK?

The team at the WorleyParsonsCord Modularization Yards in Edmonton, Alberta, has been using the SCAN-LINK technology to reduce the chance of injury to workers by mobile-lifting equipment.

Patrick Lavin, director of Modules at the Edmonton Modularization Yards says, “RFID strips have been placed on workers’ hard hats. These strips then communicate with an RFID networked system built into the different mobile-lifting equipment on the work site. When any person wearing a SCAN~LINK Armour-equipped hard hat or vest goes behind a machine, a sensor on the machine beeps. There’s an audible alarm, and a visual LED light in the cab of the machine warns the operator that there is someone behind the equipment.”

Other divisions of the global WorleyParsons group—of which WorleyParsonsCord is a part—have been following the lead of the Edmonton-based company. A WorleyParsons team working on the remote Point Thomson EPC project on the North Slope of Alaska is one of several other divisions from Australia, Europe, and North America wanting to adapt the technology.

The Modularization Yards at WorleyParsonsCord operate year round and are constantly teeming with equipment and human activity. At peak times, more than 1000 employees work at the three modularization yards combined, which makes SCAN~LINK technology a welcome and trustworthy solution to their safety concerns.