In addition to saving time and resources, enhancing safety is one of the most significant advantages of using indoor drones for internal inspections. The reasoning behind this is straightforward. By deploying an indoor drone to gather visual data, inspectors no longer need to personally enter hazardous environments. This shift means that drones can effectively replace inspectors in many cases, reducing the necessity for them to step into potentially risky areas within assets like boilers, pressure vessels, or chimneys. It's worth noting that this wasn't always the case. When commercial drones first emerged, the technology was not consistently reliable and was often used as a supplementary tool rather than a full replacement for human inspectors. However, drone technology has advanced significantly over the past few years. Nowadays, using a drone like Flyability’s Elios 2, inspectors can nearly eliminate the need to physically enter an asset to collect visual data. For those interested in learning more, check out this related read: "Elios 2 Tested 15 Times by Ronik Inspectioneering, Approved as a Formal Inspection Tool." Since indoor drones can now act as full replacements for inspectors, this allows project managers to implement the highest level of the hierarchy of control for managing safety hazards in the workplace—where the hazard is entirely removed. So, what specific hazards do drones help mitigate, or even eliminate in some cases? Let’s explore the top three hazards, each highlighting a way that indoor drones can enhance safety during internal inspections. Firstly, reducing the need for confined space entry. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, between 2011 and 2018, a total of 1,030 people died in the U.S. from occupational injuries involving confined spaces. As you can observe from the chart above, not all confined space entries were conducted for visual inspection purposes. However, for those that were, drones can now replace inspectors in numerous instances, drastically improving safety for the tasks at hand. Even in situations where the objective was merely to assess conditions visually inside an asset—without conducting a formal inspection—a drone could also substitute for a person, again minimizing or even eliminating the need for confined space entry. Secondly, reducing the need for rope access. While rope access is statistically less perilous than confined space entry, it still poses risks to inspectors. From 2017 to 2019, IRATA recorded four fatalities among those performing rope access in industrial settings, along with 73 injuries reported. It’s essential to recognize that injuries during rope access can occur due to factors beyond the inspector's control, such as being struck by falling tools or exposed to toxic vapors. Utilizing a drone to collect visual data significantly reduces an inspector's exposure to these hazards, sometimes even eliminating them altogether, thereby enhancing overall safety during the inspection process. Thirdly, reducing the need for work with scaffolding. Inside confined spaces like boilers or pressure vessels, many inspectors rely on scaffolding to view certain parts of the asset. Working with scaffolding—climbing it, standing on it, and descending from it—poses safety risks, not just to inspectors but also to those who set it up and dismantle it. According to OSHA, approximately 4,500 people are injured and 60 killed annually in the U.S. due to scaffold-related accidents. Falls from scaffolding account for about 25% of all fatal falls in the workplace. Of those injured, 72% cite accidents caused by the planking or support giving way, slipping, or being struck by a falling object. While these statistics cover all scaffold incidents across industries, they highlight the inherent risks of working on scaffolding. If this work can be minimized or eliminated, it will undoubtedly lead to improved safety conditions for workers. By using an indoor drone to collect data inside an asset, the need for scaffolding can be significantly reduced, or even eliminated in some cases, thus enhancing safety for everyone involved in the inspection process. A note on scaffolding: Although drones can reduce the need for scaffolding in gathering visual data, it’s crucial to remember that scaffolding will usually still be necessary for maintenance work—repairing defects found during a visual inspection. Yet, indoor drones can assist in making informed decisions when planning for scaffolding before sending anyone in. Looking ahead, companies are beginning to recognize the importance of deploying drones and other robotic solutions to keep people out of dangerous situations like the three we've discussed. For example, Dow has committed to using robots in confined spaces and other hazardous workplace scenarios, adopting the motto “Make technology do the dangerous work.” “Dow is using drones for inspections underwater, in elevated locations, and in confined spaces instead of putting people at risk. Inspections identify immediate maintenance issues and help anticipate site-specific problems so preemptive actions can be taken.” —Dow website The company aims to eliminate fatalities in the workplace by 2025 and reduce the most severe incidents of workplace injury and illness by 85% by 2025 (compared to its 2015 baseline). It's making significant progress, as illustrated in the graph below. Here are some of the milestones Dow has achieved on its path to achieving its workplace harm reduction goals: • In 2018, Dow used robotics to eliminate more than 1,000 confined space entries. • Also in 2018, Dow used robotics to eliminate more than 1,000 external inspections requiring elevated work. • Overall, at least 750,000 fewer hours of worker exposure to higher-hazard activities. Dow is not alone in committing to reducing workplace hazards through drones and other robotic solutions. Other major companies worldwide are implementing similar initiatives, striving to leverage new technologies to create safer workplaces. Over the next decade, we hope to see substantial reductions in workplace fatalities and injuries thanks to the use of indoor drones and robots instead of humans for dangerous work. --- If you'd like to learn more about the benefits of drone inspections, watch this webinar: "The Benefits of Drone Inspections—How Inspectors Are Using Drones to Improve Safety and Save Millions." I hope this gives you a clearer picture of how drones are revolutionizing inspection processes and making workplaces safer.

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