The AutoCrew is an IT based
solution that provides multiple management stations and unlimited number
of readers (data collectors) for real time situational awareness and readiness
assessment. Real time personnel status reports, whether on board or ashore,
provides compliance to ISPS regulations for passenger and merchant vessels.
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The muster roll call reports
are instant and will show who is in attendance, who is missing and who
is at the wrong station or area.
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Within seconds the reports can
be printed to multiple printers or exported to third party systems or databases
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Drastically improves the speed
at which employees and guests can respond to an emergency situation and
be able to track and the results in a report form, automatically.
The AutoCrew solution provides
accountability and attendance of personnel during emergency situations
like vessel evacuation, hazardous material spill, fire, or man overboard
drills. The system will provide situational awareness in real life emergencies,
including but not limited to chemical, nuclear and manufacturing plants,
hospitals or any personnel assembly.
In addition the AutoCrew™
installs on a standard corporate network. Identification however is done
at the device or station, not on the network server. This allows
for communications to remain open while data is being transmitted each
time the stations are used. The software developer kit (SDK) allows
for integration with access control, video surveillance, third party databases
and Command and Control systems.
Also known as an auto
muster roll call system, muster stations reporting system,emergency evacuation
system, automated muster system, fire drill roll call, life boat drill
muster count, emergency muster drill software, emergency muster reporting
system, electronic muster id systems, Personnel On Board accountability
system, POB System Station List (Crew Change), Muster Station List (Emergency)
and Personnel list display.
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The Muster Drill
The Muster Drill (a lifeboat
drill or a boat drill) extends originally from the marine industry. Typically
a Muster Drill on a cruise must be performed upon departure. The emergency
drill (or Muster Drill) is also a common practice or requirement for chemical
plants, nuclear plants, dams, hospitals, schools or any critical group
assemble. The general purpose of the muster drill is that in case of an
emergency, all senior staff is available at pre-determined stations in
order to facilitate emergency measures related to hazardous materials,
man over board, or mass evacuation. For a MCA Guideline on Muster
Drills see http://www.mcga.gov.uk/c4mca/mgn71.pdf
The marine environment requires
personnel on board (POB) and readiness for any situation at all times.
The muster drill is a mandatory procedure to accurately account for every
person on board and his/her location. The exercise sounds simple but on
a large ship the logistics of this critical exercise is quite daunting.
For example, cruise ships have up to 1200 personnel on board and as many
as 2400 passengers.
A Muster list and drill is
basically an emergency plan. The Emergency Plan / Muster Drill must
include the following:
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A Muster List that specifies
and conveys an emergency plan to the officers, the crew and passengers.
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The emergency plan or muster
drill must also take into account that there are multiple languages spoken
on board.
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The list will convey where everyone
is to report, who is responsible, their duties and the chain in command
in the event that someone is missing.
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Duties will include but are
not limited to assembly and control of passengers, and emergency tasks
related to hazardous materials, fire, and mass evacuation.
The primary objective of the
Muster List and Drill is to gain operational awareness as soon as possible.
The captain and the officers must know who has reported to their stations,
who is missing from their stations and who has reported to the wrong area
or who has not reported at all.
An accurate POB and muster
drill is a crucial in assessing the situation and
providing the relevant
data for the captain to dictate the proper orders.
Previous Options
The conventional method
of recording POB and performing a muster drill required yellow tablets
and communications over radio. The POB and drills are performed on “yellow
tablets” meaning a person is manually writing down who has entered and
exited the vessels. The POB sheets can be lost, requiring the crew member
who performed the task to perform a recall by memory to account for crew
members who have come and gone.
Moreover, a vessel with 200
plus personnel operating on this archaic method means the muster drill
could take up to or longer than one hour. In an emergency situation this
is unacceptable. Imagine a fire, explosion or possible situation requiring
an abandonment decision. Every second counts. The captain cannot
decide to abandon ship or look for lost (or unaccounted for) crew members
in a fire until he gets an accurate situational awareness.
In addition, large vessels
could have between 12-24 muster stations. The captain and his officers
are responsible for compiling a full report of POB and the results of the
muster drill.
The muster drill report is
then created with the following information: date and time of muster drill,
attendance, missing persons and how long the drill took to complete.
Weekly muster reports must be inputted in standard format and saved for
viewing by management or the appropriate regulatory agencies.
The AutoCrew™ Solution
Applications:
Large Vessels, Work Platforms, Critical Assets, Dams, Nuclear Plants, Chemical
& LNG Plants, Hospitals, Military Installations, Universities, etc…
The AutoCrew™ is an IT
based solution that provides multiple management stations and unlimited
number of readers (data collectors) for real time situational awareness.
The muster roll call reports are instant and will show who is in attendance,
who is missing and who is at the wrong station or area. Within seconds
the reports can be printed to multiple printers or exported to third party
systems or databases.
Attendance at each of the
muster stations is taken automatically by wireless scanners, keypad, proximity,
and/or biometric readers. The Muster roll call and tally is compared
against the personnel on board (POB) recorded by AutoCrew system.
The number of muster stations is limited only by the client’s hardware
capabilities and the readers can easily be installed on conventional local
area networks (including wireless) for an easy and inexpensive install.
Benefits of the AutoCrew™ solution:
The key benefits are real
time, accurate POB reports and the ability for the captain and crew to
collect situational awareness information real time. AutoCrew system
provides the ability for management to collect situational awareness in
real time in order to make critical decisions involving the health and
safety of the crew, contractors and guests more accurate and effective.
The Muster system can produce
accurate real time reports without manually inputting data to confirm the
success or failure of the Muster drill. These reports in most environments
(critical assets, evacuation plans, fire drills and Muster drills) are
mandatory, and they can affect the competiveness of their HSE record, their
insurance rates provide an accurate benchmark in steadily improving the
drill
The Muster Gurad System
is inexpensive, increases employee health and safety, and saves time and
money
Implementation
Design
The customer’s application,
premise, onsite facilities, and design objectives will be summarized and
confirmed. A proposal will be completed and design agreed upon between
the installing company and end user. The system is modular in design
and based on the customer’s requirements. Design of the system would include
the following:
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Management software (Registry
system, Access Control, Time and Attendance, Muster Features)
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Management stations
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Muster Stations & software
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LAN software
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Developers Kit for Integration
(possible integration into access control or Video surveillance system)
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Readers, (bar code, keypad,
proximity, biometric & combination)
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Door Controllers & Hardware
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Extended Warranty & Support
Install & Integration
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The
AutoCrew™ system is installed on a standard corporate network, either
as a standalone system or subsystem within an existing site.
In addition the AutoCrew™
system communicates via TC/IP, RS232, RS485 or wireless.
The system can also interface
into existing databases, time attendance, access control, fire and video
surveillance systems and command and control system. |
Support
The AutoCrew™ system
is a standard install, using standard communications and support protocols.
The requirement for training is minimal and ongoing support for the system
is typically done by the IT department and or the existing security company.
Case
Study / The Customer Experience
International Drilling Company based
in Europe
Customer Situation:
In the oil and gas industry
muster drills are mandatory, often held a minimum of once a week.
Reports on the timing, and success or failure of the drill affect their
insurance and ultimately their own competiveness as a benchmark rating
on their safety measures and record.
The muster drill is labor
intensive, includes all 200+ personnel on board and is expensive (see ROI
below) to run. In addition, real time information accounting of all
personnel in a timely matter is a must. These reports confirm attendance
and missing persons are extremely difficult to produce (attendance, missing
persons or persons in wrong positions) in an emergency evacuation drill
because most persons are recorded manually by paper and pen.
The AutoCrew™ systems
features offered to the customer
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Incoming and outgoing readers
to track arriving and departing personnel.
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Two management stations (laptops),
one for helipad safety room for new employees to register and be provided
safety procedures. The second management station was used on the
bridge to track muster results.
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Biometric scanners at all mustering
stations for faster throughput. The end user requires no cards
and management is guaranteed positive ID
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Report Generator
AutoCrew Reports
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Several reports including attendance,
location, missing personnel, personnel in wrong locations
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Personal data, language spoken,
name of craft, parent company, and date and time signed in.
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Export capability to third party
databases (i.e. Excel).
Benefits to the Customer
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Expert muster program improves
health and safety of crew, employees and passengers because of accurate
information.
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Routine mustering exercises
will be quicker and easier with state-of-the-art equipment and software
to produce reports and an accurate account of personnel.
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Time spent searching the ship,
especially in potential hazard area, looking for someone who isn’t missing
will be reduced.
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The almost instantaneous report
from the muster exercise will prevent delays in the Captain’s options,
such as calling for an Abandon Ship.
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Sign-in sheets cannot go missing.
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The report will show where each
person signed in and in case they are needed to support the emergency,
the person can be summoned swiftly.
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As an added benefit, the system
can produce a report at the time of the muster exercise of vessel, plant
or other facility. This report will reduce redundant data entry and
reduce errors.
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The muster system will show
in real time, the personnel unaccounted for to provide the Captain with
a clear picture of the progress of the muster exercise even if radio contact
is disrupted or congested with other emergency messages.
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System saves time and money
Cost Savings with an Automated
Muster System
Currently, the customer
is required to have a Muster Drill once a week which is taking approximately
one hour to complete. With the AutoCrew™ the Muster Drill can
be completed in less than fifteen minutes. The estimated savings
per year on labor only is as follows:
Application:
Oil Rigs |
|
60
Minute Drill |
45
Minute Drill |
30
Minute Drill |
15
Minute Drill |
|
Per Hour |
Per Year |
Per Year |
Per Year |
Per Year |
Number of Personnel |
$250 |
|
|
|
|
Average Labor Cost |
$32 |
|
|
|
|
Labor Cost per Hour |
$8,000 |
$416,000 |
$312,000 |
$208,000 |
$104,000 |
Labor Savings |
|
|
$104,000 |
$208,000 |
$312,000 |
Capital Cost of a Deep Water
Rig is $100M |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
TBD |
The calculation does not
consider the following:
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Insurance fees saved as a result
pristine safety record.
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Reduction in rates charged by
“First Responders” because customer knows which area missing personnel
are located.
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Savings from the capital cost
and lost production time for the rig and support vessels
Daily rates for a submersible
rig is $400,000/day, a jack-up rig is $140,000 (www.rigzone.com)
Daily rates for AHTS is
$70,000, supply vessels, $3,820-10,700 and crew boats range from $2270
to $4325 depending on size (April 2010 Work Boat Magazine) |