Rig quartet off Guyana to feature ‘world first’ safety tech combination

Salunda, a UK-headquartered firm specializing in red-zone safety monitoring technology, has joined forces with Norway’s Intellilift to install a solution aimed at enhancing the safety of critical equipment and personnel on four drilling platforms offshore Guyana.

While the owner of the offshore assets has not been disclosed, Salunda says the rigs belong to a “major offshore drilling contractor.” According to the UK player, this is the world’s first deployment of a real-time digital interface between wearable sensors, drilling controls, and moving machinery to provide immediate alerts to workers in dangerous working environments. 

Alan Finlay, Salunda’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), said: “This is a significant step in the evolution of offshore safety equipment, and we are proud to be working with Intellilift to ensure that crews are as safe as they can be when working in Red Zones.

“The digital integration marks a step change in safety for the sector and by knowing where workers and equipment are, as well as having the data behind the movements accurately captured and logged, this trailblazing solution ensures that personnel working in safety critical areas can feel well protected during daily operations.”

Salunda’s CrewHawk solution enables tracking of workers and equipment while Intellilft’s platform provides a digital interface to the drilling automation suite, including the position and status of machinery. A machine’s location, velocity, and status are then streamed in real time.

This is the second time the UK firm combined its solutions with the Norwegian player, the first one being a collaboration in August 2024 to optimize safety and automation in well construction.

Intellilft’s CEO, Stig Trydal, noted: “The market is in urgent need of new technology, and we are witnessing a growing willingness among operators to disrupt markets. Our collaboration with Salunda exemplifies the potential of innovative companies to challenge the larger players in technology and transparency. The journey we’ve had together has been truly remarkable, and only time will reveal what lies ahead.”

Salunda’s Hawk Analytics platform allows users to inspect data, generate trends, and display heatmaps showing where violations occur most often. Thanks to this, reports can be generated to coach crews and increase the safety of operations.

In November 2024, Transocean picked the UK player’s zone monitoring solution to enhance the safety of its Transocean Endurance rig working offshore Australia. Before that, BP opted to install the technology on its North Sea assets.