At a major gas processing facility in North Dakota, operated by a Fortune 100 energy company, the scale of operations is complex and continuously active. The site employs a large workforce comprising full-time staff, rotating shift teams, and a significant number of contractors working across engineering, maintenance, safety, and field operations. Given the distributed nature of the workforce and the size of the plant, coordinating real-time visibility of personnel was a critical operational challenge. Leadership had established a goal of evacuating and mustering all personnel within 15 minutes. Despite ongoing process improvements, muster times consistently exceeded 25 minutes, creating concerns around emergency preparedness and workforce safety until the implementation of Invixium’s Worker Safety and Tracking solutions.
A safety audit identified a critical gap between emergency response plans and their execution in the field. During an emergency, incident commanders and muster wardens needed immediate answers to essential questions: Who is on site? Which contractors are present? Who is assigned to each muster point? Has anyone reported it to the wrong location? Most importantly, is anyone still inside the facility? Without automation, these questions required processes that were slow & error-prone. This created delays that directly impacted safety outcomes during drills and presented serious risk during real incidents. The company required an automated solution capable of tracking personnel from their last known location to their designated muster point, generating automated muster and audit reports, providing real-time accountability, and delivering detailed analytics to identify and resolve evacuation bottlenecks.
Spot-r’s Automated Evacuation & Muster Performance
Following a competitive evaluation process, Invixium’s RTLS-enabled Connected Worker platform was selected based on its ability to deliver a complete, end-to-end emergency muster solution without requiring complex integrations. The system was designed to function independently, providing immediate operational value from day one. Deployment was completed in under 48 hours with no dependency on internal IT resources. On-site, Spot-r gateways were rapidly installed and connected via cellular networks, enabling instant coverage across operational zones. At remote muster locations, solar-powered gateways ensured continuous functionality without requiring fixed infrastructure or electrical provisioning. In addition, our intrinsically safe (IS) devices limit the possibility of ignition in environments where flammable gases or particles may present a serious hazard to workers, enabling safe deployment in high-risk industrial conditions. In the first drill after deployment, automated muster point reporting showed an immediate improvement, reducing productivity disruptions across the entire site. The labor savings from the first drill alone nearly offset the annual cost of the platform.
The Result: From 30+ Minutes to Under 7 Minutes!
The impact of the system was immediate and measurable. The average evacuation and muster time across the facility dropped dramatically from over 30 minutes to approximately 7 minutes, far exceeding the original target and fundamentally changing the site’s emergency response capability. Key improvements include:
- More than 70% reduction in time-to-safety
- Real-time visibility of personnel who had not yet reached refuge locations
- Automated muster reporting and accountability across all assembly points
- Actionable insights that improved evacuation training and procedures
- Identification of muster point optimization opportunities
- Deployment with no IT burden, training requirements, or operational disruption
