Whether it’s hardhats, fall protection, or steel-toed boots, there’s a lot of equipment that comes with working on a pipeline. Now, you can add dog-friendly gas monitoring equipment to the list.
Last month, Blackline Safety, a Calgary tech company that develops digitally connected, wearable safety tech for the industrial sector, announced its first four-legged customer in the oil and gas sector.
“She smells in parts per billion, which beats most of the traditional sensors.”
Nala, a working dog from Calgary’s K9 Leak Hunters, is Blackline Safety’s first canine customer, making use of the company’s G6 single gas detector to aid her in her work sniffing out gas leaks. The lightweight device is attached to Nala’s harness, recording GPS-tagged gas readings that validate Nala’s powerful nose.
In her work as the “chief sniffing officer,” the German Shepherd spends her days hunting down gas leaks along lonely stretches of rural Alberta pipeline. Her ultra-sensitive nose, which smells in the parts-per-billion range, is capable of detecting leaks as deep as four metres beneath the earth, according to statements from her boss, handler, and Training Pulse founder, Jay Stephens.
“She smells in parts per billion, which beats most of the traditional sensors,” Stephens said in a Blackline Safety blog post.
While Nala’s nose does most of the grunt work, Blackline’s technology does a lot of heavy lifting behind the scenes. The data it collects allows Stephens to support Nala’s findings with quantifiable measurements, enabling clients to meet regulatory compliance requirements and make faster operational decisions.
Because they’re a team, Stephens also dons some of Blackline’s tech, wearing a Blackline G7c multi-gas device. Together, the pair’s gear can not only confirm Nala’s detection, but measure gas levels, transmit data, and generate alerts and map reports to provide vital information to the clients the pair work for.
Beyond monitoring and data collection, there’s a safety aspect related to the team’s adoption of Blackline’s gear. The G7c that Stephens wears includes Blackline’s “lone worker” features, meant to safeguard those working solo (or semi-solo in Stephens’ case) in remote or hazardous places. Those features can detect things like falls, a sudden or prolonged lack of motion, or if a worker misses a scheduled check-in. With GPS monitoring, the gear can report back to employers or team members where a worker is in the field, creating an extra layer of security in precarious situations.
Blackline Safety’s tech is available for purchase and rental. Purchasing is done via a subscription model that ranges from $14 CAD per month for devices like Nala’s G6 gas detector to more than $200 CAD for the company’s top-shelf EXO area monitor and Blackline live portal service, the latter of which provides 24/7 customer support, access to the company’s software portal and analytics and reporting tools.
BetaKit’s Prairies reporting is funded in part by YEGAF, a not-for-profit dedicated to amplifying business stories in Alberta.
Feature image courtesy Blackline Safety.