Confined Spaces Monitoring for Operations Safety and Efficiency
NCMS Project #: 141075
Problem: Confined spaces can pose hazards to workers required to perform maintenance and sustainment tasks in these areas. Beyond difficulties with entering, exiting, and limited workspace, there are a myriad of potentially serious hazards including insufficient oxygen supply, flammable or explosive atmospheres, toxic gases, and electrical or mechanical hazards.
Benefit: The CSMS will support prevention, detection, and intervention of health and safety hazards while greatly reducing the time, costs, and manpower required by current confined space monitoring maintenance and sustainment practices.
Solution/Approach: In this initiative initial development steps will be performed towards a Confined Spaces Monitoring System (CSMS) for shipyard operations that will enable real-time sensing and assessment of maintenance workers and their surrounding environments as they operate in confined spaces and other potentially hazardous areas.
Impact on Warfighter:
- Reduce risks, time, and costs
- Increase worker safety
- Establish and maintain communication
- Improve warfighter readiness
DOD Participation:
- U.S. Navy
- U.S. Air Force (observer)
Industry Participation:
- Aptima, Inc.
- N5 Sensors/SRD Corporation (observer)
- Tetrad Digital Integrity (observer)
- NCMS
Benefit Area(s):
- Cost savings
- Repair turn-around time
- Positive environmental impact
- Safety
Focus Area:
- Energy, environmental, health, and safety