Oil rig inspection is a dangerous business. Traditionally roughnecks dangled from a wire, in gale-force winds if needed, to manually log wear and tear on the girders. Assessments include giant chimneys — called flare stacks — that belch fire during million-dollar-a-day shutdowns.
Increasingly the industry has found that swapping abseiling humans for small drones equipped with high-definition and thermal cameras can save time, cut costs and improve safety.
"These are large metal structures in a big pond of seawater. They will rust a lot, particularly in the North Sea where rigs designed to last 20 years are lasting more than 40. They are continually getting cracks and physical damage from the waves and need to be refurbished and fixed," says Chris Blackford, Sky Futures' chief operations officer.
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2015, @08:28AM
It is safe to assume the small drones aren't used in gale-force winds. Call this another example where machines are treated better than human beings and MBAs (or maybe just Bloomberg) applaud the machines as being better.
Fancy that: quality in, quality out. If only we were all treated with such courtesy and understanding.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2015, @08:46AM
If only we were all treated with such courtesy and understanding.
Shut your jabber hole, meatbag!
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Monday August 24 2015, @08:51AM
Hey, it's own vs rent.
If you own the equipment, you treat it with respect.
If you rent the equipment, who cares. If it breaks, you go back, say it was busted when you got it, and demand a new one be sent out immediately.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday August 24 2015, @09:32AM
So what you're saying is, if only slavery were legalized, slave owners would treat their slaves better than their employees. You might be on to something here.
(Score: 2) by davester666 on Monday August 24 2015, @05:35PM
Totally, as then they become a one time payment with low maintenance costs, instead of a just having to rent all the time.
Everybody knows you can't really make money if you have to rent your equipment.
(Score: 2) by richtopia on Monday August 24 2015, @06:35PM
That type of mindset was actually seen while slavery was legal.
There were positions in the cotton industry that were given to Irish immigrants, that were extremely dangerous (something to do with moving bailed cotton - I cannot remember specifically). The mindset is that the owned slaves would be used for relatively safe, but grueling work. Meanwhile, paying wages to people to risk life and limb was a much smaller investment.