How do you navigate COVID-19 restrictions?

If COVID-19 has taught us anything in the past months, it is that the future is unpredictable. Whilst everything seems to change rapidly some factors remain unchanged. Our economic growth and predictions have been turned on its head, and our known methods of sales no longer work due to travel restrictions. Yet the need for safety has not changed, the need for loyal and trusted employees and employers has not changed. If anything, this pandemic shows us that these factors are more important than ever.

Health, Safety and Environment as a top priority

Health, Safety and Environment (HSE) is a well documented and constant concern in our industry. We have rules and regulations to ensure the safety of our people. We have educated ourselves, set up programs and incorporated HSE in our day to day practices. And then the pandemic hit.

Now we not only have to ensure safety on our plants regarding the materials, machinery and processes, we have to meet the requirements of the COVID-19 restrictions and regulation. We have to make sure our people practice social distancing, rearrange chairs and tables of add partitions, limit numbers of people per vehicle, encourage practicing proper hand hygiene, meet the requirements for ventilation, etcetera.

Working from home

Some of the measures are easy fixes, yet some require a more extensive investment. Per example, letting the administrative workforce work from home, might be a financial investment by ensuring optimal work environments through a new desk chair or more extensive internet connection. The financial investment is a small feat compared to the change in mindset for managers. Changing from a more controlling and overseeing management style to a more autonomous serving management style is not easy, nor is it normally achievable overnight as this pandemic has forced us.

Working from home does not only require a change in mindset for employers, the employees have had to change as well. In recent years there have been numerous studies suggesting working from home increases productivity, as there are numerous studies suggesting the exact opposite. Working from home is not for everybody, all employees are unique and have their own way of achieving their best.

While it may not be everyone’s cup of tea, we can all agree on ‘safety first’.

Working on site

Improving HSE within pandemic measures for people who are not able to work from home is a completely different challenge. Our assets (e.g., oilfields, chemical plants, LNG trains, refineries, etc.) can only continue to run in an environment with operators near. Making sure they are safe has to be our priority, for employers and employees alike. But how to ensure continuous operation within social distancing, when operators work in tight spaces and have to be at the same spot at the same time?

Implementing robots in your processes is a valuable contribution to ensure the safety of the operators. A robot can drive autonomously within pre-set parameters, can detect gasses, map sounds and temperature all while the operator is at a safe distance. Robots co-operate with the operators to survey and record required measurements and gauges. They improve readings by following their programmed routes on a daily basis, providing a more stable reading for statistics, all while keeping operators safer. Robots work on site, while the operators can work from home, connected with the robots through fleet management in the cloud.

It seems difficult to justify the investment in robots in these times of financial struggle and insecurities. Yet the investment is not only for improving processes and safety within the COVID-19 restrictions and measures, they are a long-term solution for growth, safety and shortage of skilled operators. A robot never sleeps, gets tired or bored; a robot can always be employed when needed.

Being futureproof in a new world

COVID-19 has taught us the importance of safety and people. The investments we need to make to ensure continuous operation are both mental and physical. Changing processes is a not an easy task, but one we will have to consider remaining futureproof. We must use this pandemic as an eye-opener for new ways to work. It calls for innovative leadership and change. Robots are a part of this innovation and change and should be top of mind when planning for the future. How do you envision the future after COVID-19? Will you go back to the old ways or are you innovating?