The problem

Daily operations at the world’s largest energy companies require a monumental amount of equipment. This can include everything from lifting equipment such as hooks, slings, straps and shackles - to hoses, fire extinguishers and first aid kits.

Each offshore rig typically has between 1,500 and 5,000 individual pieces of equipment

To ensure the safety of everyone working offshore, each item must have documentation, manuals and details of maintenance and inspection available to users and inspectors. In practise this is incredibly difficult to achieve. There is often a physical paper trail, with documents stored in secure locations away from the elements and hazards of offshore operations. This limits everyday access to crucial safety information and hinders oversight.

Equinor identified the potential risks posed to its employees as a result and sought to explore digital solutions that would put vital information in the hands of those who needed it.

The aim: to implement an open equipment compliance system that would promote a collaborative safety culture and prevent accidents.

The solution

Equinor had previously used Onix products on a small scale for several years. The company saw the potential for wider implementation of Onix’s independent cloud-based platform to improve all equipment management.

From November 2021 to May 2022, Equinor ran a pilot project in the North Sea. The value of improved collaboration and data sharing was immediately clear, and Equinor decided to scale up implementation to 31 sites across the Norwegian Continental Shelf (NCS).

This multi-year project sees all loose equipment across the sites documented, monitored and inspected using Onix Work, Onix Worker and Onix Inspect.

~ 66,000 pieces of equipment inputted into the software, with data available to all offshore workers (~ 2,000) who carry a Digital Field Worker (DFW).

Workers simply scan QR or RFID tags on the equipment using their DFWs (usually phones or tablets) to access manuals, documentation, reports, certificates, and information on upkeep and inspection. This is available to all, with or without the Onix Worker app. DFWs can even be used in the highest security zones of the rig (zone 0) to improve oversight.

Equinor was significantly invested in the success of the project and committed to inputting data to Onix Work at scale during routine inspections. This reduced the complexity of start-up while familiarising inspectors with Onix software, including Onix Inspect, that would be used for all future inspections.

Onix consultants supported all stages of the project, including regular training sessions with everyday users of Onix Work.

The result

• Each phase of the project was delivered successfully to plan.
  
  
• All offshore workers can now scan the equipment they use and access all necessary information including inspection and maintenance records.
  
  
• This has enabled a shift in safety culture to put the management of safety in the hands of all workers which:
  • Removes uncertainty around equipment safety.
  • Reduces the risk of accidents from equipment failures.
  • Has the potential to save lives.

Following the success of the roll-out, Equinor has decided to further scale the implementation of Onix.