1. Canada & Latin America
Thought Leadership Series
By Alex Lima, Executive Vice President of Sales,
Canada, Latin America & the Caribbean at
ProcessMAP
The Internet of Things (IoT) and EHS
A New Set of Opportunities and Challenges
Visibility, alignment, information centric and disciplined execution

2. 1
Introduction
International Data Corporation forecasts a huge expansion in our connected world by the year
2020:
 Four billion connected people.
 25+ million different software applications.
 25+ billion embedded, intelligent and globally connected devices.
 More than 50 trillion GB of data.
Quite a complex networked environment! What will this evolution bring to environmental, health
and safety (EHS)? Will it give us more control to protect the environment? Will it make us
healthier? Will it help make the world safer? Within this context, the concept of The Internet of
Things has been growing for a while. The internet has evolved from an original email network
created by DARPA to a networked world of many types of devices, platforms, applications,
databases and networks bringing people and organizations closer. This evolution presents
clear benefits but also significant challenges to overcome in all aspects of EHS.
This paper summarizes some key points based on the exponential level of growth in connectivity
and its implication to EHS, very specifically:
 Safety benefits and implications.
 Expected improvements to the safety of our lives and work.
 Tools available to properly protect the environment.
 Privacy challenges and dangers.
Understanding the Internet of Things (IoT)
In a May 13, 2014 Forbes Magazine article, Jacob Morgan defined IoT succinctly with the
following: “Simply put this is the concept of basically connecting any device with an on and off
switch to the Internet (and/or to each other). This includes everything from cell phones, coffee
makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps, wearable devices and almost anything else
you can think of. This also applies to components of machines, for example a jet engine of an
airplane or the drill of an oil rig. As I mentioned, if it has an on and off switch then chances are
it can be a part of the IoT.” The conventional global internet connection between computers
and users now expands to include connection through any device, in any business or
organization, and within our personal lives. Some consequences that we will discuss later in
more detail are immediate and include effective communication between platforms,
interoperability, significant increases in the generation and collection of data, the sharing of
personal data in many locations. Despite its complexity, the IoT’s effective purpose is simply to
enable decision making that will improve our quality of life, optimize the operation of
businesses, and protect our planet making it a better place.

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Understanding the Growth of the IoT
The exponential growth in connectivity in recent years is obviously credited to the technology’s
penetration into our personal and professional lives. The shape of the internet is changing. BI
intelligence estimates a Compound Annual Growth Rate of 35% of connected devices over the
next five years including cars, wearables, smart TV’s, tablets, smartphones and PC’s. Clear
implications to safety include the ability to track safety metrics, alert people of unsafe
conditions, quickly calculate trends and probabilities, and control a device’s path and
navigation. Google as well as some automotive manufacturers are developing self-driving cars
and related technologies to mitigate the dangers presented by human error.
Accelerated growth presents the technical challenge of maintain the collaborative nature of the
IoT while preserving privacy and data security. As more elements are connected, the chain
becomes more complex, and more points of failure become available. Consequently, it will be
crucial that our approach to problems is technically sound.
Figure 1 – BI Intelligence 2013 – 2019 CAGR IoT growth
The Diverse Participants of the IoT
In 2015, the McKinsey Institute carved the typical 9 key areas of the IoT, each containing health,
safety and environmental implications. To cover all the intricacies of the IoT would be an
immense task and is not suited for a single white paper. Therefore, we will focus on how these
areas effect EHS. Accordingly, we will discuss behavioral, social, economic and political aspects
of the IoT from the EHS perspective.

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Figure 2 – McKinsey Institute, 2015
The IoT can assume a variety of forms, with various possible combinations of connected
elements, never providing a linear evolution pattern. The exponential nature of growth in
connectivity will disarray a Cartesian understanding of the new environment. The true
differentiator is to consider each fundamental area, or setting (as McKinsey calls it) and
understand the potential applications to safety, health and the environment. It is important to
discern between an application’s potential and its present day possibilities. Many
functionalities are available today, but are not yet economically feasible in application. EHS
professionals of the future will need a holistic understanding of this new environment to help
guide organizational executives into the proper levels of investments and risks. Overall
complexity will increase, providing the benefit of more complete data while also presenting
increased risk of security breaches.
Listed below are summarized discussions of McKinsey’s key areas of IoT aimed at capturing
the fundamental EHS points of each. We cannot list all potential areas of improvement in EHS
management without making this list unmanageable.
 Autonomous vehicles & condition-based maintenance - Self-directed vehicles show great
potential for reduced costs and increased revenues by understanding maintenance patterns
(e.g. recognizing the need for replacement parts) and by making driving conditions safer.
Vehicles could detect road conditions, speed limitations, weather patterns and accidents ahead.
Fleets would be more efficient and deliver their cargo or services in less time using less fuel.
Vehicles could report in real time (RT) their conditions to a supervisory control group to optimize
decision making.
 Home chore automation and security – Integrated alarms with the police and security
companies have been common for many years. However, with the integration of appliances,
overall electricity behavior and gas consumption, owners or renters will be able to track unusual
conditions or trends, and make appropriate decisions to prevent the occurrence of a short-

5. 4
circuiting device or an exploding pipe. Sensors can be placed in the house to track all relevant
data at an appropriate frequency, making the data available online via a smartphone, tablet or
PC. Energy savings and combinations of usage of the appliances in the best time, power
settings and other recommendations will become commonplace. The impact of energy savings
will be massive when applied on a large scale, potentially effecting millions of homes in the
many cities in the world.
 Office security and energy savings – We spend considerable amount of time at work. Energy
efficient buildings, integrated security systems that identify the ins and outs of a building,
sensors that track any anomaly in the air conditioning systems, or the electrical substation, or
smoke will mean lives saved, less operating costs and less energy consumed, which
cumulatively will bring a positive impact to the environment.
 Factory operations and equipment optimization – The integration of business processes and
the optimization of the equipment information exchange will provide a new level of intelligence
and revolutionize manufacturing efficiency, naturally linking people, technology and processes.
As a by-product, shared services such as HR, Finance, Legal, IT, Logistics and Distribution will
be streamlined generating more value. Energy saving techniques and new types of energy will
be used in intelligent buildings and offices.
Figure 3 – manufacturing machines generating and sharing data in real time
 Human health and fitness – Tracking physiological conditions like blood pressure, heart-rates
and sugar levels in real time can be of great value for personnel conducting several tasks
including the operation of heavy equipment, activity in confined spaces, or complex
maintenance of machinery. Monitoring changes in physiological conditions could identify
potential health risks. Preventive measures could then be taken to reduce the overall threat to
employee safety, avert damage to facility equipment, and protect the environment. Wearable
tracking devices are available today in a variety of formats, data sensitivities and accuracies.

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Figure 4 – North American Consumer technologies survey, 2014
 Logistics and transportation – Sensors have the ability to capture operation data such as
delivery times, fuel consumption, speeds, GPS location, volumes moved, and cargo weight. This
data can then be integrated within the production value chain and used to aid in the
optimization of the overall process. Deviations from established parameters introduce
immediate safety risk and process inefficiencies. For example, a freight truck could violate
parameters by traveling above its assigned speed limit, carrying a load above its weight capacity,
taking a suspect route, or stopping in an unplanned area. A breach of established restrictions
will prompt corrective protocol, therefore ensuring safety and efficiency. Telematics have been
available for many years and are currently used in many fleets, but the integration of these
techniques with safety and environmental data is new and exciting. Logistics also encapsulate
the ability to monitor health data of personnel such as drivers, sailors and engine room
mechanics.
IoT will Force EHS to Shift from Reactive to Predictive
There is no way to manage this value chain of connectivity and interdependencies without truly
understanding the data, trends and patterns needed to make decisions. Companies that do
not invest in business intelligence and in good data management will be increasingly
overwhelmed by data collection as interconnectivity grows exponentially. These businesses and
organizations will not be able to compete in this more demanding business environment.
Increased connectivity leads to increased complexity of the value chain. Demands on EHS
professionals will grow multi-fold to align with these extended business processes. Today’s
known impediments for business intelligence will be more relevant than ever. Data quality

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problems will increase; this new interconnectivity will make using applications more difficult and
integration of different systems will become more complicated (but crucial).
Figure 5 – barriers for business intelligence
Managing EHS in a Collaborative Platform
All safety, environmental and health processes will have to be managed in a structured, disciplined
format. It will be impossible to coordinate all the new data requirements and make sense of these
interdependencies just by using spreadsheets or portals to post EHS data and create some reports.
Internally developed EHS systems and applications are traditionally poor in functionality, tend to have
poor performance, lack strong collaborative features and are technically challenged as companies have
focuses other than the development of EHS systems. The power of ProcessMAP to integrate multiple
applications, streamline the decision-making process, allow global access and provide powerful
business intelligence and analytics (including adding mobile extensions) will be of even higher value in
an extended networked world. The internet of things will take the following situations, as examples, to
a whole new level:
 More participants in the network will create challenges for a collaborative environment, which
will need to have high performance, easy access, strong security capabilities and rich
functionality to accommodate so many different stakeholders.
 Performance in general will be a key element. As new players are added to the network, the
overall chain will become heavier. Information flows and data exchanges will naturally become
more complex.
 Business intelligence and analytics will become exponentially more important, but also more
complex as data generation will grow tremendously. The ability to make sense of the data,
generate streamlined and objective reports, dashboards and alarms will require a high level of
capability and technical competence.

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IoT will Bring Clear New and Bigger Challenges
Today, most of the risk management strategies and execution that I have encountered are
qualitative driven. People correlate the risks with mitigation strategies based on their
experience or common sense. Quantifications are very rarely in place. When quantifications
have been made, the data insight and probability methods are unclear or are gross estimates.
In some cases, we see probabilities driven from the actual frequency of occurrences. However,
EHS professionals generally are not yet that statistically enabled. Therefore, the concepts of
expected values and probabilities are not typically applied. If they are applied, they are
somewhat loose and unscientific in terms of capturing a phenomenon. This will certainly
change in the next ten years.
The usage of Statistical Process Controls (SPC) and the integration with other groups will provide
an extended value chain with metrics to understand the capacity to form trends and patterns.
Better quality of data will provide information that is more reliable. Therefore, risks will be better
quantified and mitigation activities will have a strong quantitative component. EHS
professionals as well as employees at every level will know more about business processes and
related risks. Both groups will be more data intuitive. With increased access to data patterns,
we will be able to assess a situation quickly through glancing at the data. In general, this
evolution will enable tangible contributions to the business top and bottom lines through
effective risk prediction and mitigation.
A topic that has been extensively discussed in the media is the new level of internet security
required due to increased data sharing. Data breaches and hackings present privacy concerns
and introduce diverse dangers to our personal and working lives.
IoT will Make Mobility and Cloud More Ubiquitous
This extended value chain of the IoT will reduce distances and bring many players into the EHS
decision process. Despite geographic separation, suppliers, consultants, partners, service
providers, employees and clients will need to collaborate to reach EHS goals. Improved
communications with a mobile extension to support decision-making will become more
important, and real time access to data may be a differentiator. ProcessMAP has observed that
the use of mobile audits typically yields improvements in productivity of 60 to 90%. This
extended chain will become more complex and increases in productivity and cost effectiveness
in EHS operations should follow with more significant dollar values. System architecture will
need to be streamlined in response to the continuous growth in cloud applications. IT
departments will not be able to continue to support this maze of new applications, embedded
devices and external devices. Organizations may become fonder of outsourcing given the
complexities introduced by the IoT.

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Figure 6 – ProcessMAP application with extended mobile capabilities
With stronger alignment and deeper integration with other functions within the organization, the
usage of SPC, greater predictability, and better risk frameworks will introduce more
requirements and complexity into the management process. Eventually, simplified
infrastructure and IT environments will be required in order to allow people to focus on what is
truly important.
IoT will place EHS in An Accelerated Path to Perform at All Levels
The IoT has already begun to revolutionize the personal, business and organizational areas of
our lives. It will only become more pervasive in the coming decade, with millions and billions of
devices connected. Connected devices such as monitors, wearable systems, industrial
automation and business applications can provide additional insights to EHS professionals
including machine status, meantime to failure, breakdown consequences, spills and other
elements. The EHS professional will need a holistic view of its business in order to provide a
safer, healthier and cleaner working environment. They will become information specialists as
they learn to navigate through dashboards, statistics, trends and patterns more proficiently.
EHS professionals will have to communicate more extensively within as well as outside the
organization, stating their cases and needs.