New tech promises to get oil and gas employees safely back to work
Marie Donlon | October 15, 2020New patent-pending air and surface decontamination technology promises to minimize the spread of COVID-19 outbreaks on oil and gas platforms.
The so-called SafeSpace from the U.K.’s Safewell Solutions, relies on the Coandă effect — wherein a jet flow binds itself to a nearby surface and stays attached even if the surface curves away from the original direction of the jet — to establish a consistent air flow current management system in enclosed settings.
According to its developers, this phenomenon significantly reduces the distance aerosol transmissions travel, thereby slowing the spread of COVID-19 and other airborne viruses, particularly in confined spaces such as those encountered on oil and gas platforms where employees work in close proximity to one another.
The team believes that the technology, once it is fully developed, will allow workers to safely return to the oil and gas rigs that were shuttered during the COVID-19 pandemic.