00:00 "We as a company have invested a bit more now in equipment to allow the equipment to
00:05 go into certain areas without putting man or manpower into those areas.
00:11 So the intent here as I said, our motto is 'Lose a drone, not a life'."
00:16 The Managing Director of HSSL Safety Systems Ltd, Anthony Vera, speaking with TV6 News
00:22 at the 2024 Energy Conference, about two years after he told us that one of the company's
00:27 robotic crawlers, the BT-150, was used in response to the tragic incident in February
00:34 of 2022 at the state-owned Paria Fuel Trading Company Limited facility that led to the deaths
00:41 of four LMCS divers.
00:44 During the opening of the 2024 Energy Conference at the Hyatt Regency Hotel in Port of Spain
00:48 on Monday, Prime Minister Dr Keith Rowley visited the HSSL booth as he toured the trade
00:54 show area.
00:55 TV6 News spoke with Mr Vera on Tuesday.
00:59 "Invested in a four-inch crawler.
01:03 So as it stands right now, this looks fairly big and this has been configured to 20-inch
01:08 pipelines.
01:09 But we can reconfigure this to four inches.
01:16 So this crawler can go with a reconfiguration into pipes as small as four inches."
01:23 He recalled how HSSL became involved in the response to the tragic incident at Paria's
01:28 No. 36 sea-line riser on Booth No. 6 in Pointe-a-Pierre.
01:33 "We were requested to insert a crawler into the pipeline and provided some data.
01:40 Yes, very tragic.
01:42 Once again, as I said last year and I'm going to say again this year, I would talk some
01:48 prayers over the families of those who lost their lives and the survivors."
01:52 The Commission of Inquiry in its report recommended that the Director of Public Prosecutions consider
01:57 charging Paria with what is commonly known as corporate manslaughter.
02:02 The Energy Minister told Parliament on Friday that Cabinet referred the Commission's report
02:07 to the DPP.
02:08 Mr Vera gave a general comment.
02:10 "The report has been laid in Parliament last week.
02:15 I think it has shaken up a lot of people.
02:18 I think industry is a lot more aware of this accident and we want no sort of another incident
02:28 of that sort."
02:29 Mr Vera said that among the new tech that HSSL has invested in is a big drone with a
02:34 methane sensor and a drone with a UT sensor for ultrasonic testing of tanks and superstructures.
02:40 "So we're actually about maybe 150 feet up in the air at that point and you will see
02:45 on the video when we zoom out the actual height of the tower.
02:50 So we save people from going up there with scaffold, rope access, etc. by utilizing this
02:55 technology."
02:56 TV6 News asked Mr Vera if among his clients or in the local energy sector in general there
03:03 is now a lot more focus on safety.
03:05 "Definitely, definitely.
03:07 We've seen a heightened awareness now and a lot more interest in what you have available
03:14 that we didn't have a year ago or two years ago."
03:17 The energy sector in Trinidad and Tobago is comprised of state-owned and privately-owned
03:21 companies.
03:23 Jule Brown, TV6 News.
03:25 [BLANK_AUDIO]
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