ATEX-Aware Industrial Drone operators

Drone Industrial Surveys.

Compare quotes from specialist UK drone operators for refineries, chimneys, flare stacks, and cooling towers — no shutdowns, no scaffolding, no rope teams over live plant.

“Every drone pilot on this network is personally vetted by me — insurance, qualifications, flight history.”

Peter Leslie · Founder & GVC Drone Pilot

Trusted by site managers & agencies across the UK

Need an asset inspected?

Post your details to compare quotes from industrial-asset drone pilots.

Shutting down plant just to look at it is unsustainable.

Reliability engineers, TAR planners, and HSE managers burn days of production every time a stack needs eyeballing. Drones put an inspection inside a single running shift.

Lost Production Cost

Pulling a flare offline or stopping a cooling train can cost six figures in a single day. Drones survey externals while the plant runs, so the unit only goes down when NDT confirms it has to.

ATEX & DSEAR Exposure

Any access plan across Zone 1 or 2 areas has to clear DSEAR and ATEX scrutiny. Drones with ignition-source analysis and tethered options sit comfortably inside a standing permit envelope.

Rope & Scaffold at Height

Putting an IRATA team on a 120m chimney or tank roof creates working-at-height and confined-airspace exposures that most SHEQ managers would rather avoid. A drone removes the climber entirely.

COMAH sites are not a place to learn on the job.

By Peter Leslie, Founder & GVC Drone Pilot

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Flying around live refineries, COMAH sites, and power stations means hot-work permits, DSEAR assessments, and tight congested-airspace controls. An off-the-shelf hobby drone pilot will not make it past the gate.

Every industrial survey through this network is flown by drone operators with bespoke CAA Operational Authorisations, DSEAR-aware method statements, £5M public liability (often extended to £10M for COMAH sites), and documented ATEX Zone 2 flight procedures.

The result is a survey that your site safety lead, reliability manager, and HSE auditor can all sign off without argument.

COMAH & DSEAR Aware

Bespoke OA & £5M+ Liability

Outputs your reliability engineer can actually use.

Our industrial specialists deliver survey-grade outputs tailored to asset-integrity workflows, TAR scoping, and insurance audits.

Chimney 3D Model

A dimensionally accurate 3D model of the full height of the stack — measure lean, verticality, banding corrosion, and liner displacement straight from the model in browser.

Flare Stack Defect Log

An indexed defect log covering tip burners, windshield, riser, and supports — each defect classified by severity and cross-referenced to high-resolution and thermal imagery.

Tank Roof Survey

Orthographic mosaic of fixed or floating roofs showing corrosion, pitting, pontoon failures, and seal condition — ideal for API 653 planning without sending climbers up the stairway.

Book your industrial survey in 3 steps.

We connect you with drone operators who have already flown inside COMAH fences and live process plants.

Describe the Asset

Tell us the asset type (stack, flare, tower, tank), height, ATEX zoning, and whether you need RGB, thermal, or both. We handle confidentiality from the first message.

Compare Specialists

We route your brief to industrial-rated drone operators with bespoke OAs and DSEAR-literate method statements. You receive comparable quotes with deliverables and lead times.

Fly & Report

Your drone pilot attends site induction, flies under PTW, and delivers a packaged report with 3D model, defect register, and radiometric thermal imagery where specified.

Start Your Project Brief

Keeping plant running during inspection.

See how reliability engineers, TAR planners, and HSE managers use drone surveys through our network.

"We used to lose a week of flare availability just to scope the TAR. The drone team gave us enough imagery and radiometric data to plan the shutdown scope in a single live-running shift. Straightforward six-figure saving."

Craig B.

Reliability Engineer, Teesside

"Site safety were dead against IRATA on the chimney. The drone operator produced a DSEAR-compliant RAMS, flew under PTW, and gave us a full 3D model plus banding corrosion report. HSE walk-down accepted every page."

Neil D.

SHEQ Manager, Ellesmere Port

"The tank roof survey spotted seal failures on two floating-roof tanks we had not yet scheduled. Catching it before the API 653 inspection saved a scramble on a tight shutdown slot."

Priya S.

Integrity Engineer, Grangemouth

Industrial Survey FAQ

Technical questions on ATEX, thermal capability, and confined-airspace planning.

Can you fly inside ATEX Zone 1 or Zone 2 areas?

No standard UAV is ATEX-certified as an ignition source. Our drone operators mitigate by maintaining a documented stand-off distance agreed with the site DSEAR coordinator, flying only when the zone classification is downgraded, or using intrinsically safe inspection platforms where available. The RAMS covers ignition-source analysis explicitly.

Are your drones thermal-capable, and what resolution?

Our industrial drone operators fly radiometric sensors (typically 640×512 FLIR or DJI H20T class) that record per-pixel temperature, not just greyscale imagery. That means any anomaly you see in the report can be queried for absolute temperature and emissivity-corrected values in the R-JPEG files supplied.

How is confined airspace around stacks and structures planned?

Our drone pilots use a bespoke CAA Operational Authorisation that allows close proximity to structures, coupled with a ground-based observer, a defined exclusion zone, and — for tight plant geometry — visual line-of-sight reliefs. Flight plans are shared with the site control room ahead of take-off so shutdown requests can hold or divert flights.

What file formats are delivered?

Every brief includes the indexed defect register (PDF/XLSX), radiometric R-JPEG thermal imagery, orthographic tank roof mosaic, photogrammetric 3D model (OBJ/FBX and browser-viewable), and raw high-resolution visual imagery. Files are delivered via encrypted cloud link within 5–10 working days depending on asset complexity.