Integrating IoT technologies for an “intelligent” safety management in the process industry

Abstract

IoT (Internet of Things) technologies are wide spreading in several industrial sector due to a combination of increasing technical performance together with decreasing purchase prices: thus, new tools are been evaluated for adoption in new fields of application, like safety at work. In recent years, several projects and prototypes as well as industrial solutions have been developed using IOT technologies especially to dynamically managing safety levels at complex workplaces. The aim of this study is to describe a prototype system where the so called Smart Objects (SOs) - integrating different IoT technologies- interact in a working environment through a digital platform for managing different type of hazards – e.g. involving safety of plants as well as workers - usually influencing safety levels especially in process industry. The fields of application of the proposed system vary from tracking periodic mandatory maintenance and analyzing aging of equipment, processing or containing hazardous materials, to remote tracking of hazardous conditions of workers.