A technology company based in Edmonton, Alberta, is using artificial intelligence (AI) to spot potential safety risks at oil and gas facilities.

Last week, AltaML announced a partnership with engineering and design firm Kleinfelder in which the two companies will pair 3D reality scans of facilities with AI to look for potential problems and risks.

Chris Fletcher, business development manager with AltaML, said the use of AI and machine learning, which is a subset of AI, is meant to be another tool for safety inspectors and plant operators. He said the company’s goal is to bring AI to the blue-collared industry.

“The goal is to basically put higher-quality safety plant recommendations in front of inspectors so that they can catch the ones that require more attention earlier on and spend less time looking at safety infractions or concerns that didn’t need to be looked at in the first place,” he said, adding the end result is facilities becoming safer and more productive.

Fletcher said fireproofing facilities, for example, can be particularly challenging because of the constant monitoring that’s needed to watch for degradation. This is where the 3D scanning and AI come in to maintain that monitoring. He said inspectors are able to check plants and facilities even remotely.