OIL & GAS

Total Safety poised to recover $17M in equipment loss with Samsara Asset Tag

To manage its inventory of 250,000 industrial safety assets, Total Safety deployed Samsara Asset Tag, helping to ensure emergency readiness while reducing loss by 20% and putting the company on a path to recover $17 million in potential asset loss.

Meet Total Safety

250,000 ASSETS

180+ LOCATIONS

20+ COUNTRIES

The Challenge

Lack of visibility into assets leads to millions of dollars in lost equipment

Total Safety is a global provider of integrated industrial safety services, equipment, and technology solutions. Operating in over 20 countries with more than 180 locations, the company serves heavy industries such as energy, petrochemical refining, power utilities, manufacturing, mining, and transportation.

To serve their customers effectively, Total Safety maintains a large amount of equipment—about 250,000 assets in total—that includes life-saving devices, like gas monitors and breathing apparatuses, as well as harnesses, winches, trailers, and more. The equipment must be regularly checked and maintained to help ensure compliance and worker safety, a task that requires knowing where assets are located at all times. "Our biggest visibility challenge was that we had none," said Brad Raines, Vice President, North American Safety. "Our contracts detailed what the assets were and where they went, but there was no true visibility into when or if they were returned, or what condition they were in."

This lack of visibility caused a range of issues across the company's operations. Total Safety was losing up to 30% of its assets annually, adding up to roughly $6 million in lost or unreturned equipment per year. Moreover, Total Safety couldn't prove equipment had not been returned, which made billing disputes more frequent. Most importantly, a lack of visibility could also impact the readiness of life-saving assets. "If we can't track our assets, we can't ensure equipment is ready for a life-saving situation," Raines said. Total Safety needed to gain full visibility across its assets to improve efficiency, control costs, and continue delivering on its commitment to customer safety.

"Samsara gave us critical visibility into our assets. As soon as the first Asset Tag went on, we could find our equipment, recover it faster, and keep life-saving assets ready in the field."

Brad Raines

Vice President, North American Safety

The Solution

An asset tracking solution built for harsh environments

The team at Total Safety spent two years evaluating asset tracking vendors, searching for a solution that offered reliability and durable hardware that could be used in oil fields and other harsh, hazardous environments. The team selected Samsara because it provided these capabilities and more. "Samsara offered the non-negotiables, like network reliability, C1D2 certification, and long battery life, but it was also very flexible," said Raines. "Samsara integration capabilities aligned with our long-term vision for managing our assets."

In addition, Total Safety chose Samsara because the team was willing to co-develop solutions for industrial safety gear. "In early tests, Asset Tag was too large to fit on equipment like personal gas monitors, so we collaborated with the Samsara engineering team to develop Asset Tag XS and pilot it in the field," said John Chaccour, Director of Technology. "The Samsara team listened to our needs and worked with us to find a solution that has performed extremely well and exceeded our expectations."

Total Safety decided on a phased implementation across its large volume of assets, conducting a rolling deployment across its sites. "It's easy to affix and assign Asset Tag to equipment, so the installation can be done in about a minute," said Raines. "The Samsara system is also easy to use, so we've been using a 'train the trainer' approach to get our employees up to speed. Overall, we've been able to get up and running very quickly."

The Results

A 20% reduction in asset loss over 6 months and $17M in potential asset recovery

Using Samsara Asset Tag, Total Safety has reduced its asset losses by 20% in just six months. The company is on track to reach its goal of recovering 70% of its equipment, which is equal to roughly $13 to $17 million in capitalized assets. "Samsara gives us the visibility we need to see our capital spend on assets," said Raines. "Now we can understand our loss recovery rates and better manage the equipment we have, as well as what we need to replace."

Better asset visibility has also improved equipment utilization and billing. Now, idle equipment that has not moved for days can be retrieved and put to use, and billing disputes can be resolved with live data. "Before Asset Tag, contractors would say, 'oh, we returned that on Monday,' but we couldn't prove it wasn't true," Raines said. "Now, we can show exactly where assets are in the field, if they were returned, and when. The technology has improved our relationships with our clients."

In addition, Asset Tag has helped improve equipment maintenance and compliance. When an asset is due for inspection, teams can retrieve it and replace it with a newly inspected unit without cumbersome paperwork. "Before Samsara, equipment like our fixed high-pressure compressors didn't have maintenance records," Raines said. "Now, technicians use Samsara to complete digital forms, and they can check 90 machines in just five to 10 minutes."

Moreover, with accurate, timely records, Total Safety has been able to help ensure all of its equipment meets compliance requirements and will be ready in an emergency. "A big part of our mission is ensuring the safe well-being of workers worldwide," said Raines. "That means we want to make sure workers get home safely at the end of the day, and Samsara is helping us deliver on that mission."

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