Jack-up rig in Middle East to sport UK player’s red zone monitoring solution

Salunda, a UK-headquartered firm specializing in red-zone safety monitoring technology, has secured a multi-year contract to install its solution on a jack-up rig in the Middle East. 

While the company stated that this is the first time this particular technology will be fitted on a jack-up in the region, the name of the client and the rig have not been disclosed.

Dubbed Crew Hawk, the solution wirelessly monitors dangerous working environments in real time and uses anonymized feedback from tracking individuals and equipment to make operations safer and minimize risks.

Salunda’s Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Alan Finlay, expressed his satisfaction with the solution reaching new markets, noting that Crew Hawk has redefined red zone monitoring by enabling feedback from operations in real-time.

“This contract win marks a significant milestone for Salunda as one of several deployments in the Middle East. We are pleased to be partnering with our colleagues in the region to improve safety for staff and optimize performance within a safety-critical industry,” said Finlay.

Crew Hawk works by alerting an individual’s locator and the area authority as soon as the person enters an exclusion or red zone, thus, both parties can take steps to remedy the situation. As the technology is connected with active equipment, it notifies the staff in the ‘line of fire’. 

Perimeters can be set around areas that pose a risk to personnel, and around activated equipment or machinery in dynamic situations. Staff members receive an alert if they enter these zones, while equipment can be paused using Salunda’s motion trigger and e-stop (MTES) technology.

Furthermore, operational and safety statistics can be viewed on performance dashboards, while a playback feature enables a detailed investigation of zone violations or incidents in a work area.
Another installation – this time of jackets – will soon bring another British player, ABL, to the Middle East.

The firm was selected by China Offshore Oil Engineering Company (COOEC) to provide marine warranty survey (MWS) services for jacket installations on Safaniya oil field. Operated by Aramco, it is said to be the world’s biggest conventional offshore oil field both by recoverable reserves and production capacity.

Multiple rig owners were recently presented with temporary suspensions of operations in the Middle East for one or more jack-ups in their fleets working for Aramco. Among these players are Valaris’ ARO Drilling, ADES, COSL, Arabian Drilling, Borr Drilling,  and Shelf Drilling.