All posts by : Iain Hoey

The leading UK oil and gas industry body OGUK has today welcomed the Scottish Government’s Hydrogen Policy Statement, which recognises that the critical role the country’s oil and gas industry has to play in realising a hydrogen economy.

Commenting, OGUK Sustainability Director Mike Tholen said:

“The Scottish Government’s Hydrogen Policy Statement released today recognises the critical role our industry has to play in creating a hydrogen industry, both through the expertise of our supply chain and the talents of our workforce, and in the opportunities presented by repurposing of our infrastructure.

“Investing in these new energy resources will be key to unlocking the challenge of achieving net-zero emissions across the economy. Many businesses within our industry are already actively involved in the development of such hydrogen projects, recognised by the Committee on Climate Change as an essential part of the energy mix in years to come.

“While it’s encouraging to see investments like this, today’s Hydrogen Policy Statement reiterates the importance of securing a sector deal for our industry. We will continue to work at pace with the Scottish government to ensure that our supply chain is supported throughout the transition, securing jobs and the energy supply, whilst supporting our energy communities.”

DNV GL have announced it has been awarded a multidisciplinary contract by BHP Billiton Petróleo Operaciones de México, S. De R.L. De C.V. (BHP) to provide classification, verification, and independent analysis of the Trion FPU.

Located approximately 19 miles south of the U.S./Mexico border and approximately 112 miles from the Mexican coastline, the FPU will be installed in a water depth of approximately 8,200 feet. BHP holds a 60% interest in the development and PEMEX a 40% interest.   

“The Trion oil field development is historic in the Mexican gulf and a milestone for all of us involved,” said Frank Ketelaars, Regional Manager, Americas, DNV GL – Oil & Gas. “It is indeed a recognition of DNV GL for our competence in professionally executing mega projects of this scale internationally. DNV GL is honored to be the Classification Society involved in such a significant project, and we look forward to the growth of our partnership with BHP for years to come.”   

The contracted verification scope DNV GL will carry out includes full project compliance to the Mexican offshore regulations, NOMs (Official Mexican) standards and BHP’s safety case requirements. The scope of work also includes several independent analyses from DNV GL to be conducted during the front-end engineering design and detailed design phase of the project   

“I am delighted BHP has recognized that we possess the technical expertise and knowledge, particularly with respect to local regulatory requirements, to assure the safety and compliance for this deepwater project,” concluded  Ketelaars. “We have worked with BHP on many different projects around the world and this contract win is a sign of the strength of our relationship with BHP in the Americas.”

BSI, in its role as the UK National Standards Body, has today published new international guidelines for organisations to protect staff while operating effectively.

The free standard, named ISO/PAS 45005, Occupational health and safety management General guidelines for safe working during the COVID-19 pandemic, defines international best practice for managing the health and safety of workers and other stakeholders during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is intended to complement any existing national guidelines and regulations.

The ISO/PAS 45005 guidelines cover everything from safely reopening business premises that have had to shut down, to steps for working more safely with the public and looking after workers’ psychological health and wellbeing – including for those working from home. It also includes recommendations on:

• Personal protective equipment and face coverings
• Ensuring people with disabilities are taken into account
• What to do if someone becomes ill in the workplace
• Co-ordinating with other businesses in shared work premises

The standard provides businesses with practical guidance on how to overcome the immediate difficulties that organisations are facing up and down the country and around the world, including supply chain management and will help businesses bounce back once the crisis passes.

Sally Swingewood, Lead Standards Development Manager for business improvement and occupational health and safety management at BSI, who manages the committee that developed the new international guidelines, commented:

“As the National Standards Body for the UK, it is our duty to help improve the quality and safety of business by developing voluntary standards that can be effectively applied across workplaces. The global pandemic has overturned social and business norms and it is a challenge to organisations across the world to keep operating whilst also keeping people safe: today’s publication is step toward a resumption of stable business.

“We understand that not every organisation has a dedicated human resources or OH&S function, so we have developed this guidance to be practical and easy to understand. It can be used in any organisation, regardless of type, size or country of operations.”

The committee¹ gathered experts from 26 countries, who used the original guidelines developed and shared by BSI in the UK in May to develop this international standard. Its development was fast-tracked, taking three months rather than the average three years to publication.

Any organisation that wishes to download the ISO/PAS 45005 guidelines should visit the BSI website here.

This week, Zoox revealed the first look of its driving, electric, autonomous vehicle built for the rider, not the driver. Today, the Zoox team confirmed that FLIR Systems will supply Zoox with thermal imaging cameras, and we wanted to share more details on our involvement with Zoox and why this is such an important milestone for autonomous vehicles.

As a sensing technology that performs the complex task of detecting and classifying roadway objects in challenging lighting conditions, thermal cameras add additional layers of safety through increased situational awareness and redundancy as part of complex sensor suites, ranging from radar to LIDAR to visible cameras.

The Zoox robotaxi vehicle features FLIR thermal cameras in its bi-directional vehicle, bringing improved visibility to more confidently identify and classify pedestrians, cyclists, and animals in both day and night driving conditions on urban streets, all around the vehicle.

Although thermal imaging is a more recent sensing modality in autonomy, mobility innovators, like Zoox, have come to realize its benefits for improving safety.

Thermal imaging is a passive sensing modality that does not require illumination and performs equally well in bright sun glare, headlight glare, and complete darkness, while offering additional awareness in adverse weather conditions such as fog, smoke, rain and snow. In short, by using thermal imaging, ADAS vehicles can recognize and adapt to these changing conditions quickly, and as a result, improve the safety across all levels of autonomy, including automatic emergency braking (AEB). This level of safety is crucial for all occupants and other road users, especially pedestrians and bicyclists that can be more difficult to spot in crowded urban environments, to help avoid injury or potential fatalities.

A History of Thermal Imaging and Automotive Innovation

FLIR’s initial foray into thermal imaging for automotive use 15 years ago has evolved to creating integrated thermal imaging systems that provide additional situational awareness and safety for advanced driver-assist systems (ADAS). This includes the development of robust thermal imaging datasets to enable machine vision classification in the infrared spectrum, as part of broader artificial intelligence technology stacks.

Last year, FLIR announced its Boson thermal camera technology will be part of a leading automaker’s level-four autonomous vehicle (AV) sensor suite through our long-time partner Veoneer. And now with the introduction of the Zoox autonomous vehicle, FLIR Systems is thrilled to see its technology continue to gain wider acceptance as a crucial component of safer mobility.

Recently, FLIR teamed up with VSI Labs to develop a proof-of-concept vehicle and testing program that looks at how fusing thermal sensor data with radar a visible sensor data via a trained neural network can improve pedestrian detection for AEB systems. By adding thermal to current sensor suites, the testing showed significant improvement in nighttime and poor visibility scenarios. 

Autonomous innovation remains a strategic priority at FLIR, and as the automotive industry continues to evolve and perfect its safety systems, FLIR will play an integral role to support the future of travel.

The government has announced a £30 million fund to help end the scandal of excessive waking watch costs, as part of a further move to support thousands of residents in high-rise buildings.

The new Waking Watch Relief Fund will pay for the installation of fire alarm systems in high-rise buildings with cladding, removing or reducing the need for costly interim safety measures such as ‘waking watch’.

The National Fire Chiefs Council have been clear in recent guidance that building owners should move to install common fire alarm systems as quickly as possible to reduce or remove dependence on waking watches.

The steps today will help worried leaseholders who may have faced high costs for interim safety measures by providing financial support and delivering a better, long term fire safety system in their buildings.

Some buildings have already installed these systems due to the significant savings this offers, with leaseholders in those buildings, who on average were paying £137 per month for a waking watch, expected to collectively save over £3 million per month.

The same research shows the wide range in costs faced by leaseholders and evidence of disproportionate charges – the Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick is writing to Trading Standards asking them to use their powers to investigate.

The fund will open in January, but will also provide immediate, emergency support to Wicker Riverside Apartments in Sheffield to ensure that the 35 recently evacuated families should be able to return to their homes before Christmas.

A 6-month extension to the deadline for building owners to complete their applications to the £1 billion Building Safety Fund has also been announced – with a new deadline for submissions of 30 June 2021.

Waking Watch Fund ‘will help reduce financial pressure’

This means hundreds more buildings will be remediated and thousands of leasehold residents will be protected from costs. Progress is being made on current applications with many more expected to be agreed before Christmas.

Housing Secretary Robert Jenrick said:

I’ve heard first-hand from leaseholders the misery that rip-off waking watch costs have been bringing to residents of high-rise buildings with cladding.

I’m announcing today a £30m Waking Watch Relief Fund to help relieve the financial pressure on those residents and to ensure they are safe. I’m confident that this will make a real difference to worried leaseholders up and down the country this Christmas.

We have continued to prioritise the removal of unsafe ACM cladding throughout the pandemic and expect around 95% of remediation work will have been completed or be underway by the end of this year.

National Fire Chiefs Council Chair, Roy Wilsher said:

We welcome this new Waking Watch Relief Fund, which will help to reduce the financial burden for some leaseholders having to fund the costs of waking watches.

It has been our firm and long held expectation that building owners should move to install common fire alarms as quickly as possible and this funding is a positive step.

Building Safety Minister Lord Greenhalgh said:

Our priority is making sure people are safer in their homes and we are working tirelessly to make this happen.

The measures announced today build on our commitment, which will be enshrined in law through our Building Safety Bill, to improve the safety of buildings across the country.

Building owners are responsible for making sure that their buildings, and the people who live in them, are safe. We continue to actively pursue them to encourage swift action and have supported this with £1.6 billion in government funding.

This builds on steps the government has already made to support leaseholders including securing an agreement that owners of flats in buildings without cladding do not need an EWS1 form to sell or re-mortgage their property – benefitting nearly 450,000 homeowners.

These measures are part of the government’s commitment to improve the safety of buildings across the country which will be enshrined in law through the Building Safety Bill in 2021.

The government is clear the building industry must contribute towards the costs of making these homes safe once more, to set right decades of unsafe practices.  Work continues at pace to develop further financial solutions to protect leaseholders with details to be announced in the new year.