The Bhopal Tragedy: How Industrial IoT Could Have Saved Thousands

On 2-3 December 1984, a gas leak incident happened at a pesticide plant in Bhopal, India. Over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas and the main reason was most of the plant’s MIC related safety systems were not functioning and there was no solid predicative measure technology in place.

How could IIoT (Industrial Internet of Things) have helped?

Expiry date label on food packaging will be the thing of past.

A gas sensor that is connected with other IoT devices can detect any fluctuation in the gas level that can cause harm. The gas sensor alerts the supervisors immediately and prevents causalities and there are out of box solutions available today. But for that, you have to go for an End-to-End IoT solution instead of just IoT Platform. On top of it, many businesses in this industry have escalated their profits by reducing operational costs and optimizing the use of resources by implementing the right IIoT solution.

What five key business benefits can be attained by Industrial IoT in just a few weeks:

1. Keep watch on Oil extraction rates, Mud-return temperature & pressure.
2. Provides Pipeline supervision.
3. Checks health of Equipment and prevents maintenance.
4. Provides smart asset remote tracking & management.
5. Does real-time tanker/fleet tracking & management.

The right IIoT solution must have following seven features catered for Oil & Gas industry:

1. One stop shop for complete IoT needs (IoT Platform, IoT Gateways, and IoT Endpoints).
2. Quick to Market: A complete End-to-End IoT solution can be easily modified and implemented.
3. IoT devices have the ability called Machine Learning
4. The architecture of IoT solutions is Modular, Flexible, and Scalable & Standardized.
5. Ensure Automation of Daily tasks, Intelligent monitoring of Devices.
6. Customizable pricing that costs according to your needs.
7. Configurable multi-layered security.

The Oil and Gas industry loses billions of USD yearly due to Non-Productive Time (NPT). IIoT solutions help companies reduce NPT events by using real-time data resulting in breakdown prediction and scheduling preventive maintenance. Industrial IoT is a revolutionary step in the evolution of the oil and gas industry. Data flows smoothly from grounds to boardrooms, enabling better decision making, better-optimized processes, and a safer working environment. In an industry that spends trillions of USD yearly on development, exploration, and asset maintenance, even a single-digit percentage improvement by implementation of IIoT will result in massive cost reduction.

If the right decision intelligence pipeline model of IoT is adopted then it can help leaders to make smarter business decisions. Hence, IIOT is not a just a buzzword and if implemented the right way, it could save thousands of lives.