Breaking Barriers: Digitising Hazardous Area Inspections

Did you know that many oil and gas companies still don’t have effective digital management systems in place to manage their hazardous area (Ex) inspection campaigns? The digitisation of Ex inspection systems remains one of the slowest markets to adopt the wide range of benefits that modern technology can offer.

In today’s rapidly advancing, digitised, AI-driven world, it’s surprising to see just how many companies are still using outdated methods to manage hazardous area inspections. These manual processes should be a thing of the past, but they persist.

The oil and gas industry is massive, and while we all work towards more sustainable alternatives, this sector remains vital to life as we know it. So let’s take a closer look at the challenges holding back digitisation, and why this transition has been so much slower compared to other industries.

Lack of Knowledge

So, the question is: why is there still a lack of knowledge, in an industry under so much pressure to clean up operations, improve efficiencies, and prevent disasters like Piper Alpha or the more recent Deepwater Horizon incident? These were catastrophic events that could have been prevented with the right systems in place.

A modern digital system could detect faults, report issues, track maintenance tasks, and provide detailed dashboards that give engineers and operators a clear, real-time view of what’s happening. Potential disasters could be spotted early and stopped in their tracks.

So why is knowledge still lacking?

There are multiple international standards and regulatory schemes like the IEC, ATEX (including ATEX 95 and 137), and in the U.S., NEC and OSHA that define how hazardous area work should be done. But the truth is, many people working in these environments don’t hold the proper competencies as outlined in those standards. Even when manual methods are used, we still see a failure to meet compliance, time and time again.

Audits often highlight these gaps, but follow-up action is rarely taken.

Sure, there are training courses out there? Plenty in fact! Tailored to each stage in the lifecycle of hazardous area work. But in today’s “Wall Street” environment, cost-cutting and profit-maximising often push third-party training to the chopping block. Instead, companies rely on in-house training that conveniently skips certain areas of the standards to save money.

The mindset? “We’ve been doing it this way for many years and nothing’s gone wrong… yet.”
Possibly the most dangerous phrase in the hazardous area world today!

If compliant inspections and maintenance campaigns were enforced across the board, inspection times would increase, and suddenly the question would shift to, “how can we do this more efficiently?” That’s where digitisation steps in.

Suppressed Demand

Because demand is low, companies developing digital inspection systems face a shrinking market. It’s expensive to develop these platforms, and when the procurement department sees a quote, the instinct is often, “how can we cut this down?”

Since there’s no urgency, thanks to the same “we’ve always done it this way” thinking, digitisation is viewed as a “nice to have”, not a critical leap forward in safety.

But that’s a massive oversight.

Digital systems drastically cut manpower costs. And when you compare the upfront investment to the ongoing labour costs of manual inspections, the numbers don’t lie: digitisation is cheaper in the long run. Yet, that “nice to have” line item is too often removed from quotes before the real cost-benefit analysis is ever done.

Willingness to Change

Change brings resistance. That’s just human nature.

And for companies trying to implement new digital systems, the workforce can be the first hurdle. People fear the unknown, and understandably so. This initial resistance creates a greater need for training. Again, bumping into the same old budget barriers.

But resistance doesn’t last forever.

Once the benefits become obvious, acceptance follows. Performance improves, safety goes up, and eventually, full integration becomes the new standard.

The Key Benefits of Digitisation

Digitisation offers the oil and gas industry significant, measurable gains:

• Accessibility & Convenience: Previous inspection records, equipment locations, supporting documentation, and photos—all easily retrievable with a few clicks. No more stacks of binders or lost files.

• Efficiency & Productivity: Automation reduces errors, speeds up workflows, and frees up people to focus on more critical tasks like safety!

• Data-Driven Decisions: Digitisation unlocks advanced analytics. You can spot trends, identify weaknesses, and make smarter decisions based on real insights. It’s like having a radar and microscope rolled into one.

• Remote Collaboration: Teams can share files, communicate in real time, and get expert advice regardless of where they are. Hazardous area specialists can now support site teams from halfway across the globe, in real-time.

• Innovation & Scalability: Digitisation lays the groundwork for continuous improvement and future innovation especially around safety, efficiency, and sustainability.

Two Massive Industry Gains

Let’s simplify all those benefits into the two areas that matter most in oil and gas:

1. Safety

Digitisation enhances safety through real-time monitoring and smart alerts. Digital inspection systems collect data on equipment condition, environmental factors, and failure points, helping operators identify risks before they escalate.

Remote monitoring reduces exposure in hazardous environments. Predictive maintenance ensures equipment stays safe and operational. These systems don’t just reduce risk, they help companies go beyond compliance and set new safety benchmarks.

The result? Fewer accidents, fewer disasters, and a genuine push toward sustainability and social responsibility.

2. Cost/Efficiency

Digital systems slash admin time.

RFID tags help locate equipment faster. Records are instantly available. Certificates, drawings, inspection histories, everything is right there on a device. No more wasting time searching through folders.

A manual inspection might take 1.5 hours per item once all factors are considered. With digital systems, that can drop to just 45 minutes.

If a company operates multiple rigs, each with 25,000 Ex tags, and each item must be inspected every 3 years… the time and cost savings add up fast. It won’t take long before the system pays for itself and then continues to generate savings year after year.

The Bigger Picture

The oil and gas industry needs to realise that digitisation of Ex inspection systems isn’t just a “tech upgrade.”

It’s an investment in safety, in efficiency, in sustainability, and in long-term cost reduction.

The future of hazardous area inspection is digital. It’s time to catch up!