Oikos

Oikos

Oikos Storage is the UK’s largest independent liquid petroleum bulk storage facility. Located on the north bank of the Thames on Canvey Island, Essex, the terminal has been a crucial hub for the country’s transport fuel industry for the past 70 years.

The facility receives liquid petroleum imports via ship, and is the only independent terminal connected to both of the UK’s two main underground pipeline distribution systems. It therefore plays a key strategic role in road, jet and bunker fuel distribution networks.

As a major site handling large quantities of highly flammable liquid petroleum, Oikos is subject to strict health and safety regulations under The Control of Major Accident Hazards Regulations 1999 (COMAH). The company is extremely proud of its unblemished track record in health, process safety and environmental practices.

A key part of this is maintaining safe, secure, 100 percent reliable communications on site. So when the company came to review its use of an ageing fleet of analogue Motorola GP340 ATEX radios, it turned to Brentwood for advice

Our solution

The main challenges of setting up a two way radio network at a major industrial site like Oikos are two fold – its size and the hazardous nature of the materials handled there.

The company already used ATEX rated handsets, which are built according to strict safety standards governing the use of electrical equipment in explosive atmospheres. But after surveying the site, our experienced engineers recommended upgrading to digital models.

As well as being compliant with electrical ignition standards, the Motorola DP4401Ex and Motorola DP4801Ex are built to high specifications for water, gas and dust protection. They come with critical safety features, including Man Down automated alerts and Lone Worker monitoring, and both support GPS tracking.

As two of Motorola’s premier handheld digital models, both benefit from extended battery life, outstanding quality audio and superior coverage range, all vital for guaranteeing connectivity for mission critical communications. To further guarantee full coverage across the site, we also supplied a Motorola SLR5500 repeater to boost transmission output.

As well as advising an upgrade to high performance digital handsets, we also recommended deploying two advanced software management systems.

Motorola’s TRBOnet Plus is a control room software solution, which enables two way radio fleets to be managed from a PC. It allows for more efficient oversight and coordination of multiple teams, crucial when operating to strict health and safety protocols. It also offers more advanced digital features to a fleet, such as voice dispatch, voice recording, incident logging, GPS GeoFencing and RF coverage monitoring, plus IP connections to remote users and networks.

In addition, we supplied MOTOTRBO Capacity Plus, a digital trunking solution which doubles the number of users able to connect to a conventional digital network, ensuring it is scalable with Oikos’ future growth.