CONFINED SPACE INSPECTION SAVING BP OVER $110,000 IN LESS THAN 4 HOURS

OVERVIEW

Hawkeye Imagery was approached by BP who had an urgent request to safely inspect the tight confines within a 40m x 2m structure at their refinery. They didn’t have the time, equipment or skilled operators to undertake the job during their one week of shutdown. Due to its urgency, Hawkeye Imagery staff were on site the next day to identify and assess the task at hand.

3 days after the initial on-site job assessment, staff at Hawkeye Imagery re-visited the site and completed the entire operations within 4 hours.

It was the FIRST INTERNAL INSPECTION OF ITS KIND IN AUSTRALIA and SAVED THE COMPANY OVER $110,000 IN COSTS without placing any personnel under safety risk.

 

 

BACKGROUND

Hawkeye Imagery was approached by BP who urgently wanted to inspect the internal conditions of a 40m x 2m vertical structure during shutdown but didn’t have the equipment or time to undertake the job by traditional methods (i.e. scaffolding and rope access).

It was estimated that the job would cost over $110,000 to undertake and 3-5 days to prepare if they used rope access workers and scaffolding. This was not an option due to time limitations.

Knowing how urgent the request was, staff were on-site the next day to meet the BP Refinery Supervisors to identify and assess the situation.

 

 

SOLUTION

Within days of the meeting and site assessment, Hawkeye Imagery was back out on site with our specialised drone.

Only one personnel from BP was required to assist during drone operations and all members of the operation were safely positioned on the ground during the inspection.

Although the internal flying conditions were challenging in such tight confines, our highly skilled pilot successfully completed the job within an hour. Staff at Hawkeye Imagery were on site for less than 4 hours in total.

 

 

RESULTS

Hawkeye Imagery safely completed the flying operation in the tight confines of the structure within an hour and were able to quickly process the imagery as requested. The HD imagery provided by Hawkeye Imagery provided the Maintenance Engineers a visual assessment of the internal conditions and defects of the structure.

BP Personnel could assess the inspection from the safety of their desktop within a day of the operation and accurately pre-plan the works required in their next maintenance shutdown.

 

 

CONCLUSION

Hawkeye Imagery were approached by our client to undertake a challenging and urgent inspection of one of their structures at their refinery. The job was executed in a safe and proficient matter which saved the company over $110,000 in costs whilst keeping all personnel safely on the ground during operations.

This inspection of such tight confines within a vertical structure was by our knowledge the first of its kind in Australia.

 

A complex internal 40m x 2m drone inspection at BP Refinery, Kwinana

2 Reviews

      Adam – They were checking for the build up of “coke” lining the inside of the charger as well as observing the condition off the off-shoots

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