ESB Networks manages the electricity network in the Republic of Ireland, bringing power to more than 2 million customers. Maintaining safety inspection and managing assets are important parts of its business. To improve its processes, ESB chose CoreRFID’s CheckedOK asset management system, now extended to support contractor asset inspection management alongside its own engineers.
ESB Networks is responsible for almost 600,000km of power transmission and distribution cabling, as well as 600 transformers and substations. Its team of engineers operate from its distinctive fleet of yellow vans, carrying all the equipment needed to repair and maintain the network infrastructure. This often involves lifting operations, climbing and working at height, so safety and legislative compliance are a priority, but managing so many different assets with different inspection requirements was a challenge.
“Working with CoreRFID has given us a safety asset inspection system tailored to our business needs.”
– James Treacy, Lifting Gear Supervisor, ESB Networks.
The benefits of an automated system
ESB originally used a manual system to manage inspections and create certificates. This progressed to a PC-based solution using a Microsoft Access database, but it still needed manual data entry, leaving it open to error, and databases were difficult to keep synchronised across locations. Identifying assets was also time-consuming. Items could be overlooked, and when equipment moved from one vehicle to another, the history of individual items could be lost.
ESB Networks wanted to automate the process, identify assets more quickly and ensure inspections followed the appropriate standards. RFID offered a way to do this, and after exploring other solutions, the company chose the well-proven CheckedOK system.
On-vehicle safety equipment inspection
ESB Network’s 2,500 vehicles each hold 100 to 120 assets. The company has fitted electronic tags to over 140,000 assets. Tags carry a unique number so each asset can be identified within CheckedOK. With equipment ranging from climbing harnesses and karabiners to ladders and other large assets, different tag types and fixing methods were needed, including screw/rivet, adhesive, zip tie and cable fix. CoreRFID advised on the right tagging approach for each item and trained staff involved in the tagging process.
ESB initially planned to use one tag per asset, but realised during planning that certain assets consisted of separately testable components, each needing its own tag. ESB Networks engineers use NFC-enabled devices to read the tags on equipment, having moved away from the dedicated Bluetooth RFID readers used previously. The CheckedOK software prompts engineers for the inspection tests relevant to each item and collects results, which are sent to the central database. Because the system knows which tags should be present, any missing or duplicate items are highlighted automatically.
Contractor asset inspection management extends beyond ESB’s own engineers
CheckedOK has since been extended to contractors, allowing them to carry out inspections on ESB’s behalf under the same system, rather than each maintaining a separate process. The asset base has also broadened beyond ESB’s core lifting and climbing equipment to cover generic assets such as generators and chainsaws, giving ESB one consistent way to manage inspection across a much wider equipment range.
The system can indicate which items are due for inspection. If an item fails to meet the inspection criteria, the engineer can schedule it for repair or scrapping, and the system automatically emails the details to the health and safety team. CheckedOK generates the appropriate inspection certificates automatically, linked to the inspector’s identity. The equipment schedule for each vehicle, along with inspection history, is stored in the cloud-based system and readily accessible to ESB staff and business partners to demonstrate compliance with safety legislation.
Among other features, CheckedOK helps ESB standardise equipment naming and provides one networked database of assets, showing information for equipment on every vehicle and at every site. A quick visual indicator identifies lifting, climbing and load-securing items, which have different reporting requirements, and links to the latest inspection certificate for that item.
Details are also held on the last inspection, the asset’s current condition and any planned corrective action. Using the system, ESB Networks manages its assets more effectively and expects to reduce the costs of lost equipment and asset management. Most importantly, CheckedOK helps improve safety for staff, reducing the impact of accidents and the costs of keeping the country’s electricity infrastructure running.
CoreRFID and ESB are now working on KPI reporting and semi-AI automation as the next phase of development.
The benefits
- Much improved accuracy over manual systems
- Less effort for asset and safety inspection management
- Up-to-date reporting and automated certificate production
- Better accountability for assets and safety inspection
- Contractor asset inspection management extends coverage beyond ESB’s own engineers
Learn more about the latest version of CheckedOK