Page 30 - OHS, May 2021

INDUSTRIAL HYGIENE
Enhancing Safety and Sustainability
through a Data-Driven Approach to Gas Detection
For some companies, data has become a critical part of safety and sustainability programs.
BY MARK SILVESTER
As the gas detection market has matured over the years, a growing number of industrial organizations have invested in high-tech monitoring devices, such as personal and wearable gas detectors, in order to analyze levels of gas exposure and keep their people safe.
These organizations are increasingly taking a “connected” approach to safety by using these devices to ensure field workers and a monitoring team to remain in touch at all times. This connectivity has enabled workers to always have somebody watching over them in order to keep danger at a distance.
As many of these modern devices come equipped with the most advanced capabilities—such as two-way voice communications, push-to-talk, automatic detection and even close contact alerts amid COVID-19—organizations may feel that they have a comprehensive gas detection program.
If companies, however, are relying solely on hardware to keep their people safe, there are gaps in this approach that may leave workers vulnerable to longer-
term threats, such as volatile organic compounds (VOC) exposure.
In today’s landscape, the most advanced, GPS-enabled monitoring devices produce millions, often billions, of data points each day. Those points may include location of workers throughout the day as well as where low-level gas readings are present across a worksite.
In order to implement the most effective gas detection strategy, organizations must also utilize the data produced by their respective devices, as it offers valuable insight that will allow for better, more informed decision making both in the short and long term. In addition to helping keep people safe, using data proactively can also support an organization’s sustainability goals.
For companies such as or similar to mine, data has become a critical part of safety and sustainability programs in the following ways.
Greater Visibility
Austrian consultant Peter Drucker once said, “You can’t manage what you can’t measure.”
I’d build on Mr. Drucker’s famous quote by saying that you can’t improve what you can’t see. These quotes exemplify exactly what data brings to an organization— helping teams establish and track metrics and see what they otherwise couldn’t. Through data, safety teams have full visibility into every aspect of a worksite, including employee behavior and gas exposure.
Without these insights, organizations are often left to wonder exactly how safe their people are, conducting guesswork based on manual checks or employee testimony in an effort to improve safety protocols.
Enhanced Safety Practices
Especially in an organization like mine, where we have tens-to-hundreds of people working to extract landfill gas for renewable energy generation any given day, it’s critical you understand exactly how you are ensuring safety at all times. Gas exposure in the waste resource industry, among others like oil & gas and power generation, are a significant threat to short- and long-term worker health and safety.
26 Occupational Health & Safety | MAY 2021
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