Danish SafeEx has developed software for Ex inspection and registration, which increases security and streamlines the procedure. Traditionally, Ex inspections have been conducted with pen and paper as well as subsequent manual registration in own system or with various software solutions for the individual routines and processes. The SafeEx Software provides a complete solution for hand-held units with a uniform set-up that can be used on all units and for all routines such as hose management and commissioning.
“One of the areas of noticeable improvement is a considerable reduction in the man hours required to manually populate details of inspections performed into the Ex register. The SafeEx system performs this otherwise time-consuming task by autonomously synchronising inspection details from the RFID PDA into the secure Ex register server,” explains Graeme Matthews, EIT Superintendent, FPSO Athena, BW Offshore.
All information is registered immediately after each inspection and both the unit concerned and, not least, on-shore management, are thus given the full snapshot of the maintenance condition.
SECURE STREAMLINING
The SafeEx Software is now installed on the third FPSO of BW Offshore, which is very satisfied with the security advantages and the streamlining the system provides. The software has proved to give such satisfactory Ex inspections and registrations that DVN has rubber-stamped it as the Ex documentation system for BW Offshore.
”The SafeEx solution provides noticeable overall improvement in the efficiency of Ex maintenance, improved safety, easy to use tools for reporting, trending and tracking the overall status by both onshore and offshore personnel,” says Graeme Matthews.
The third order won by tender is on FPSO ABO where BW Offshore needed to conduct inspections of 4,000 units of electrical equipment and update their Ex register.
”The SafeEx team have provided us with seamless migration from the legacy Ex registers to the new, more efficient SafeEx register. Implementation has been performed by a campaign team of SafeEx’s highly experienced Ex inspectors, where each Ex tag on the FPSO is inspected, unique RFID tag applied and all information populated into the new register,” says Graeme Matthews.
In doing so, BW Offshore now has a uniform set-up on the FSPOs Peregrino, Athena and ABO where all related documentation is gathered in one place and from where they have the possibility to see and manage all future Ex maintenance.
FUTURE USE
Looking to the future BW Offshore has identified the benefits of implementing such a system on new-build projects when the electrical systems are being installed and commissioned.
“Taking lessons learned from the industry around us, we have identified the significant costs and project delays operators have experienced in taking delivery of a new build with substandard electrical installation from the construction yard. The SafeEx system can provide improved project quality control for the E&I construction phase ensuring construction yard installations meet the Ex criteria before leaving the yard and thus avoiding the costly project and start up delays due to Ex defects,” concludes Graeme Matthews.
In addition, BW Offshore is also thinking about implementing the system on FPSO Athena for their daily Plant Maintenance checks.
