CASE STUDY
FMTC Adopts Pisys Simulator For MEM Training Worldwide
Summary
The Pisys Operations Training Simulator provides FMTC with a realistic training environment, that can be adapted to replicate a variety of emergency scenarios. A cloud-based version enables them to run courses anywhere in the world.
Background
FMTC is a prominent safety training company that specialises in providing offshore, wind, maritime, and industrial training. The company is headquartered in Amsterdam, and has sites in Dordrecht, Louisiana USA, Dunkirk, Zebrugge, Marseille and Ras Tanura in Saudi Arabia.
FMTC’s major focus is on providing Major Emergency Response training. This training is designed to equip personnel with the necessary skills in command, control, communications, and stress management to handle major emergencies. Typically, students are exposed to emergency scenarios using simulators which mimic the conditions experienced offshore, and which allow them to encounter emergency scenarios under instructor control.
Challenge
FMTC wanted to make their training courses as realistic as possible, to closely match the environment that students would be in day to day, mimicking the physical look and feel of the environment as well as the way the various process elements interact.
This involves items like alarms being as realistic as possible and responding to the various inputs such as heat detectors, gas detectors, manual call points etc. They also use PA, radio and telephones so they needed these to work just as if they are on an offshore asset.
Their other requirement was to be able to create scenarios which work like macros – where a series of things happen in order, under the control of an instructor who can both observe what is happening and step in to alter the conditions if required. For example, if things aren’t going well they need to be able to pause the exercise, slow it down or, in some cases speed things up so that they can progress to another part of the training.
They were using some existing simulators as part of a joint venture with another training company but found that they could not get the levels of fidelity and configurability that they wanted, resulting in students not having the best experience.
The other big issue was COVID, as during lockdown they needed to be able to run courses remotely so students could experience emergency scenarios without leaving home. FMTC wanted to have two fixed installations, one in Dordrecht in the Netherlands and one in Ras Tanura, Saudi Arabia, as well as the online option to run courses anywhere.
As it was a significant investment, ideally they were looking for a bespoke simulator from a supplier that was mature and well established in the field of oil and gas major emergency management.
Solution
Implementation was really straightforward.
The Pisys Operations Training Simulator system provides FMTC with a software application which can load various models which represent the environments to be simulated. Some of these are generic, including FPSOs and Semi-Subs but there is also the option to ask Pisys to custom-build a model for a specific purpose.
They are now running MOME, MEMIR and CRO courses which are OPITO approved and are also compliant with the NOGEPA 2.14A, 2.14B, 2.15 and 2.10 standards which relate to management of major emergencies.
Result
The online platform is becoming increasingly accepted within FMTC and they have been able to run courses for online learners in Australia and the USA, as well as India, Egypt, Saudi and European countries and the adoption is steadily increasing as more customers see the benefits of online training.
The Pisys infrastructure has been effective at reducing latency, and servers in key regions ensure a great online experience.
We are now introducing the integration of smart whiteboards with OTS. We are able to create a template which is event driven and OTS allows that to happen by triggering the different stages automatically. FMTC haven’t seen any functionality like that anywhere else.
HIGH LEVELS
Of Realism
OPITO
Approved
REDUCED
Latency
Testimonial
We got up and running very quickly and Pisys were really professional and extremely responsive.
The on-site simulators are working well and are extremely busy. They provide the highest level of realism I have ever seen in a simulator of this type and the feedback we get from candidates and external auditors is incredible.
Overall the Pisys OTS simulator is a massive benefit to our business and we're really excited about the new opportunities we're getting as customers find out what we can offer. We’ve had consistently superb support from the Pisys team, nothing has been too much trouble and they have really created a great product.
Pisys Operations Training Simulators are the world’s most widely used Major Emergency/Incident Response and Control Room training simulators.
Replicate a real world control room to create a realistic training environment for emergency response and incident management on a fixed platform or FPSO. Our cloud-based platform eliminates the need for costly travel without compromising on realism.