Chevron Connected Worker
Longstanding partners with Mobilus using bone conduction to overcome the industrial communication challenge for the Connected Worker in Hazardous Locations.
Chevron’s vision is “to be the global energy company most admired for its people, partnership and performance.” Along these lines, the company aims to lead the industry in health and safety, acknowledging that the protection of their workforce is the highest priority. For this reason, Mobilus and Chevron have a long history of working together over the past since the company’s inception. Initially as users of the Trimble XR10 with HoloLens 2 and the original mobiWAN_TR bone conduction speaker, Chevron saw the potential of bone conduction to help site workers communicate beyond the original mixed reality use case and began to explore mobiWAN as a universal communications headset for site.
After a period of testing in one of their largest refineries, and the release of the new mobiWAN bi-directional bone conduction headset, Chevron is expanding testing and use cases across North America and multiple international locations around the globe. Chevron recently published an article about their innovation activities with Mobilus here.
The Challenge
For workers in refineries, offshore platforms and other noisy environments, donning personal protective equipment (PPE) like safety helmets, protective eyewear, ear plugs, and ear defendersis routine. However, this protection can impede an essential safety tool: the ability to communicate and collaborate. If you’ve ever tried to have a phone conversation while outside in the wind, you know how hard it can be to hear. Likewise, workers who use walkie-talkies, headphones or earbuds while in windy environments or amid the deafening thrum of machinery can make hearing important real-time communications impossible. This ineffective, or sometimes total absence of, communication can lead to equipment damage, accidents, and injuries on site, all of which inevitably create production interruptions and possible shutdowns. “Most of the time, field workers have to run back inside or find other communication alternatives,” said Miranda Palmisano of the Chevron Technical Center and whose team helped test the technology. “So enabling clear, two-way communication at all times is huge for everybody in high-noise environments.” These health and safety challenges are further exacerbated by the nature of these environments and the potential risk of exposing people and equipment to flammable gasses. As a result, solutions need to be certified to the highest standards of Intrinsic Safety for Hazardous Locations. Mobilus Collaboration
To address the above challenges, Chevron is teaming up with Mobilus Labs to deploy their mobiWAN technology, a wearable device that allows workers in noisy and windy environments to “hear” through their bones and talk with each other. The mobiWAN product uses Mobilus’ patented bi-directional bone conduction technology, both receiving and transmitting voice signals through micro-vibrations to and from the head.When deploying the technology, some tweaks were necessary to tailor the technology to Chevron’s needs. Chevron tested at various U.S. facilities and offered feedback to Mobilus, such as requesting battery life that matches workers’ shift length and improved audio quality when used with standard radios (walkie talkies).
“The ability to use the setting and get feedback from us so they can make tweaks that improve the process – that’s where the relationship with us adds significant value,” said Esteban Montero, who helps scout out new technologies for Chevron to trial and deploy.
Mobilus’ mobiWAN is the only two-way bone conduction voice wearable certified for Hazardous Locations (Class I Div II). Achieving this high standard of certification and safety enables companies like Chevron to broadly deploy its technology across their facilities.Chevron has plans to use the device at facilities such as chemical plants, refineries, terminals and offshore platforms.
“Chevron’s highest priority is the personal safety of our workforce,” said Lillian Moy, a technology deployment and adoption manager for Chevron. “Mobilus’ invention is a tool that can help our workers communicate safely without compromising hearing protection.”
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