Oil and gas: lone worker safety and mustering that work in hazardous areas.Lone worker and mustering systems that fail in hazardous areas?
For operators, EPCs and turnaround contractors across offshore platforms, refineries, terminals, and chemical and petrochemical plants. We design lone worker safety, mustering and ATEX-certified tracking for people and assets: hybrid UWB / BLE / GPS stacks, IEC 62443-aligned, independent.
We design mustering and persons-on-board accountability, lone-worker safety, hot-work permit geofencing and turnaround workforce visibility, engineered for hazardous, regulated environments. Hardware-agnostic across ATEX/IECEx-certified UWB, BLE, active RFID and GPS.
Free 30-minute call with an adviser · written proposal with the price after · fixed-scope engagements from £3k.
How it works in Oil & gas.
The right radio for each job, mapped to your use case.
1 · Account
Persons-on-board are tracked for full mustering accountability.
2 · Locate
ATEX/IECEx tags locate crews and assets across the field.
3 · Control
Hot-work geofencing and lone-worker duress alerts in real time.
UWB → zones · Active RFID → mustering · GNSS → field
Common problems we find.
Mustering is too slow
In an emergency, paper or badge-swipe headcounts can take a long time across a large site, and still leave doubt about who is actually accounted for.
Lone & remote workers are exposed
Technicians in confined spaces, tank farms and remote wellheads can go man-down with no reliable way to raise an alarm or be located.
Turnarounds are chaos to track
A shutdown brings thousands of contractors on site for weeks. Knowing who is qualified, where they are and whether hot-work permits are respected is a clipboard job.
Oil and gas use cases we design for.
Who is on site, from the gate to the muster point
Gate reads list who is on site by company, and muster point reads support your roll call, which stays. Readers certified for the zone, confirmed in the survey.
Confined space entry
Entries and exits logged against the permit, so the attendant and control room see the same count. The attendant, permit and gas tests stay.
Gas detectors and lifting gear in date
Detectors due a bump test or calibration, and lifting gear past its examination date, are flagged at issue. Checks before use stay.
Turnaround tools and hired equipment back
Each issue recorded against a person and company, with items still out listed before contractors demobilise.
Vehicles near people
Proximity alerts for drivers and people on foot that support your traffic rules and exclusion zones, not replace them.
More oil and gas use cases.
- Lone workers: an alarm someone can act on, including man down, alongside your lone working procedure.
- Permit zones: alerts when tagged people enter hot work or exclusion zones, alongside your permit to work.
- Tubulars and valves: tubulars, valves and rental equipment found in the yard and on site.
- Critical equipment: maintenance planned on condition and use as well as the calendar.
- Field crews and vehicles: where service vehicles and crews are at well sites, pipelines and remote stations.
- Offshore containers and baskets: cargo carrying units sent out from the supply base and back.
Hardware & software ecosystem
ATEX/IECEx Zone 1 & 2 intrinsically-safe tags · UWB and BLE safety platforms · active-RFID mustering · GPS / satellite for remote and offshore · wearable gas-detection integration: selected for your safety case and environment, never by price book.
Where we plug in
SAP · IBM Maximo · permit-to-work & control-of-work systems · competency / contractor-management platforms · ERP and HSE reporting · SCADA-adjacent dashboards.
What good looks like.
What we design and document to
ATEX 2014/34/EU and IECEx (hazardous-area equipment) · IEC 62443 (OT security) · ISO 45001 (occupational health & safety) · NORSOK (offshore) · API recommended practices · lone-worker standards (e.g. BS 8484) · permit-to-work / control-of-work alignment.
Where it pays back.
Offshore platform mustering
Real-time persons-on-board and sub-two-minute verified mustering for a fixed-platform emergency-response programme.
Refinery turnaround control
Live contractor visibility, competency gating and hot-work geofencing across a multi-week shutdown with thousands of workers.
Lone-worker tank farm
Man-down and duress alerting with precise location for operators across remote tank farms and pipeline pump stations.
Solutions for this industry
Relevant case studies
More use cases, in detail.
ATEX/IECEx-compliant personnel tracking
Problem: Oil and gas facilities have explosive-atmosphere zones (ATEX/IECEx); personnel tracking must use intrinsically-safe equipment.
Tech mix: ATEX-rated UWB or BLE tags on personnel, intrinsically-safe anchors, mustering and zone-access integration.
Outcome: Personnel tracked in real time in hazardous zones, ATEX-compliance, mustering time reduced.
Mustering and POB (personnel on board)
Problem: Offshore platforms and refineries need real-time POB counts and mustering compliance. Manual roll-call is slow in an emergency.
Tech mix: BLE or UWB tags on every person, gateway coverage at muster stations, integration with safety-management system.
What to measure: muster compliance · POB accuracy · regulator/insurance audit evidence (baseline each before the pilot).
Lone-worker safety with man-down detection
Problem: Maintenance, inspection and security personnel work alone in remote, hazardous areas, falls, gas exposure or incapacitation require auto-detection.
Tech mix: UWB or LoRaWAN tag with motion sensor, escalation through control-room dashboard, integration with security/EMS.
What to measure: lone-worker incidents · OSHA / regulator compliance evidence · insurance premiums (baseline each before the pilot).
Permit-to-work zone enforcement
Problem: Permit-to-work systems control access to specific areas for specific tasks. Manual enforcement is error-prone.
Tech mix: BLE-AoA on permits and people, zone-access readers, integration with safety-management.
What to measure: permit violations · hot-work and confined-space compliance · audit evidence (baseline each before the pilot).
Pipeline pig-tracking and inspection
Problem: Pipeline pigs (cleaning, inspection, gel) must be tracked through pipeline runs, lost pigs cause major delays and pipeline damage risk.
Tech mix: Acoustic, magnetic or RF pig-locators, AGM (above-ground markers), GNSS for marker location, integration with pipeline-operations.
Outcome: Pig-tracking confirmed, inspection completeness verified, pipeline-integrity reporting improved.
Tubular and OCTG asset tracking
Problem: Oil-country tubular goods (drill pipe, casing, tubing) are high-value rotating assets, losing track creates capital and re-rental costs.
Tech mix: Passive RFID or marking-on-pipe identification, yard-portal readers, integration with rotable-asset management.
What to measure: OCTG loss · capital tied up in rotable assets · rental utilisation (baseline each before the pilot).
Turnaround/shutdown workflow
Problem: Refinery and platform shutdowns are very large events with thousands of work cards and hundreds of contractors converging.
Tech mix: BLE-AoA on contractors, Passive RFID on critical-tools and parts, real-time turnaround dashboard.
What to measure: turnaround duration · work-card status latency · contractor compliance (baseline each before the pilot).
Critical asset health monitoring
Problem: Pumps, compressors and turbines are single points of failure; unplanned downtime costs hundreds of thousands per hour.
Tech mix: Vibration, temperature and acoustic sensors via LoRaWAN, integration with CMMS and PdM platform.
What to measure: unplanned downtime · asset availability · maintenance cost per barrel (baseline each before the pilot).
Drilling-rig material flow
Problem: Drilling-rig operations move thousands of items per well; mis-routed material causes drilling delays.
Tech mix: Passive RFID on every batch and tool, rig-floor and storage fixed readers, integration with drilling-operations software.
Outcome: Rig-floor material-search time reduced, drilling NPT (non-productive time) reduced, well-cost per metre improved.
HSE incident reporting and investigation
Problem: HSE incidents must be investigated with full context, what happened, who was nearby, what equipment was operational.
Tech mix: RTLS data on personnel and equipment archived for investigation, integration with HSE management system.
What to measure: investigation time · root-cause attribution · time to implement lessons learned (baseline each before the pilot).
What you gain
Faster mustering with a live POB
Personnel on board is a live count, so the muster board shows who is missing and where they were last seen. Measured as time from alarm to verified headcount in drills.
Lone workers located when it matters
Man-down and duress alerts carry a position in ATEX / IECEx zones. Measured as alert-to-response time and drill results.
Permits enforced in the field
Zone entry is checked against the live permit-to-work, not the paper copy in the control room. Measured as entries without a valid permit and permit-audit findings.
Turnarounds with fewer delays
Contractors, tools and materials are visible across the shutdown, so work packs do not wait on a search. Measured as delay hours against the turnaround schedule.
Tubulars and critical spares you can find
OCTG and rig materials are tracked from yard to wellsite. Measured as search time, write-offs and emergency orders.
An incident record built from data
Position and alert history reconstructs who was where, when. Measured as time to assemble an HSE investigation timeline.
Who else sells into oil & gas locating and what programmes get wrong.
Hazardous-area RTLS, mustering and lone-worker suppliers, plus IoT condition-monitoring platforms, compete with intrinsically safe constraints that disqualify many warehouse-grade tags. Large EPC and Big-4 safety programmes often specify without RF field validation on the actual unit.
What programmes get wrong: importing warehouse UWB designs into classified zones; mustering KPIs that ignore turnstile and shelter reality; and supplier remote access that breaks the OT security model. Zone-rated, IEC 62443-aware design comes first.
Personnel and asset locating in oil & gas.
Upstream and midstream operators (Shell, BP, ExxonMobil, TotalEnergies and peer IOCs) specify ATEX/IECEx-aware mustering, lone-worker and zone control. Market context for hazardous-area locating, not named TRACIO references.
How an engagement works in oil, gas & chemicals.
Stages, with a gate after each
- Scoping call: 30 minutes with our advisers; a written proposal with the price if there is a fit.
- Discovery & business case: use cases, KPIs and technology direction (typically 1 to 5 days on site).
- Supplier selection: requirements, shortlist, RFP and TCO (typically 3 to 6 weeks).
- Pilot: judged against pass/fail criteria written before any equipment goes in (with timings agreed per site).
- Rollout & handover: scoped per project, phased by site or wave.
What we need from you
- A named sponsor who can sign off each gate
- An operations lead and an IT/OT contact for a few hours a week
- Site drawings, floor plans and process maps
- Access to your permit-to-work, POB/muster and CMMS systems
- Site inductions and hazardous-area permits, plus any offshore travel requirements
Frequently asked questions
What does lone worker RTLS include for mustering in oil and gas?
Lone worker RTLS combines presence, man-down and zone events so mustering oil and gas scenarios have a live headcount. ATEX locating tags and readers cover hazardous areas. The programme stays advisory and integration-led so your control room and POB systems remain the system of record.
How does RTLS account for people in hazardous areas?
Real-time location, mustering and POB counts, designed for hazardous and offshore environments, mean everyone is accounted for in seconds during an emergency.
Is the hardware suitable for hazardous (ATEX/IECEx) areas?
Yes, intrinsically-safe, certified tags and infrastructure are available for explosive atmospheres. We scope certification to your zones.
Does it support lone-worker and zone safety?
Yes, man-down, panic and restricted-zone alerts protect workers in remote and high-risk areas, with a coordinated response.
What else can it track?
High-value tools, mobile assets and the condition of critical equipment, combining safety with asset integrity and uptime.
How does it integrate with our systems?
Mustering, safety and asset data feed your control-room, access-control and EAM systems, with auditable records for compliance.
What does an oil, gas or chemicals engagement cost?
It depends on scope and the number of sites. Every engagement is scoped per project and priced in writing before work starts: £3k to £30k per project, or £1,200 a day in the UK. Regional ranges for Europe, North America and other regions are on how we work. Extra sites, on-site RF survey and integration into more than one system of record add to the scope. Hardware and licences are extra: you buy them direct from the supplier, and we don't resell them.
How long does an oil, gas or chemicals engagement take?
Discovery usually takes 1 to 5 days on site, supplier selection typically 3 to 6 weeks and a pilot with timings agreed per site, with a gate after each. Rollout is scoped per project. Turnarounds and shutdown windows often set the pilot dates.
What if the pilot fails?
It stops at the gate. The pilot is judged against written pass/fail criteria agreed before any equipment goes in, so a fail is a clear result, not an argument. You pay no rollout costs and keep the artefacts from each stage: requirements, scored shortlist, TCO, RFP pack, pilot criteria and the measured results. Pilot equipment can be rented, so there is no capex to write off.
Do we need to consult the works council or employees before tracking people?
Usually, yes. Locating people is processing personal data, so under UK and EU GDPR you need a lawful basis, normally a data protection impact assessment, and clear limits on purpose: safety and mustering, not performance monitoring. Where you have a works council or recognised employee representatives, involve them before the pilot. In Germany the works council has a co-determination right over systems that can monitor staff. We design for this from the start: zone-level presence rather than continuous tracks where that is enough, pseudonymised IDs, short retention and role-based access. See GDPR and RTLS.
Who owns the data, and can we avoid supplier lock-in?
You own it. Your data and IP stay yours, with full export. We don't sell hardware, so our advice stays independent. During supplier selection we put data export, open APIs and exit terms into the RFP and contract, so you can change supplier later without starting again.
Do you work with chemical and petrochemical plants?
Yes, the same method applies. Chemical and petrochemical sites share the problems covered on this page: hazardous-area classification, mustering, permit-to-work and lone working. The approach is the same: ATEX/IECEx-certified hardware chosen for the zone, mustering tied to access control, and integration to permit-to-work. See ATEX & IECEx.