An automated RFID mustering solution is a vital resource to improve emergency response. It handles many time-consuming tasks emergency managers must address during a crisis. It could be the right choice for companies to streamline their emergency response measures. Such e-mustering solutions help to confirm staff are safe, identify and locate personnel still at risk, and simplify drilling so that everyone can get back to everyday work faster.

The initial minutes of an emergency are critical. When an emergency happens, the emphasis is always on life safety. The second priority is stabilising the incident, for instance, containment of a chemical spill or a local fire. Finally, if the damage is extensive or the hazard life-threatening, an offshore platform may be ordered to be evacuated.

Based on an emergency response plan, a team will be able to send out a warning to workers to evacuate, shelter or make alternative efforts to avoid harm. An evacuation is stressful and must be well prepared and regularly trained.

An evacuation is completed when all personnel is assembled at a designated area. This process is called mustering and requires a list of all individuals on an offshore installation, vessel, plant or other evacuated areas. Such a mustering list must be actual and complete; otherwise, it will be impossible to know if the personnel is still inside the danger area. A mustering officer will use the list to account for everyone and give further instructions on where to go or how to evacuate from a still unsafe area, e.g., board lifeboats.

Mustering points are considered safe and are an assembly area for evacuees. These areas are typically outside and close to lifeboats on vessels and offshore installations. Every offshore installation should have multiple muster points, and everyone on board has a specified muster area they can reach quickly during an alarm.

Besides having located and defined mustering areas for your crew in your emergency response plan, the team must execute muster drills to prepare for a potential evacuation situation. When conducted unplanned, muster drills will show the flaws of the emergency response plan, the preparedness of the crew and the use of muster points immediately. In addition, under the stress of an emergency, some people onboard will react not rationally but panicking and make things even more difficult than under routine emergency response drills.

In an emergency scenario, things consistently don’t work as well as in an undisturbed muster drill. Under real tension, people act differently. Therefore, the main reason for electronic mustering is that such systems can significantly improve conventional paper-based systems by getting personnel accurately and more rapidly mustered.

With an electronic mustering system, all personnel is provided with individually assigned RFID tags. Then, in the event of an emergency muster, personnel simply present themselves at the muster point, their unique tag is automatically read, and their name appears.

So, all personnel have to do is calmly proceed into the lifeboat – although, in an emergency, the system passes more than one person through those portals at a time, as active RFID solutions can read multiple tags simultaneously and accurately.

An automated electronic mustering solution is a helpful resource to improve emergency response. It handles many time-consuming tasks emergency managers must address during a crisis. It could be the right choice for companies looking to streamline their emergency response efforts as such e-mustering solutions help to:

  • Confirm staff are safe
  • Identify and locate staff still at risk
  • Automate roll call
  • Simplify drilling so that everyone can get back to work faster

Electronic mustering (e mustering) systems show additional benefits to the safety and security of the offshore installation. For example, once all personnel get an individual tag, permissions can be assigned to that tag, enabling personnel to access a room or control machinery. The technology can also interface with the permit to work systems or cross-reference with time and attendance. For more information about emergency preparedness and e-mustering, check out IDENTEC SOLUTIONS’ Crew Companion – a fully automated personnel tracking management system for e-mustering and proper emergency response offshore.