Offshore Union - Workforce Reductions Will Impair Offshore Safety

Published in Oil Industry News on Friday, 16 January 2015

As unions in the UK enter into crisis talks with oil and gas chiefs in Aberdeen today, offshore union RMT has released an improvement notice served on BP by the HSE UK. RMT says that the notice exposes the inherent dangers of axing staff when a backlog of essential works is being allowed to stack up.

The notice can be seen here.
General Secretary Mick Cash said: 

“RMT’s concerns about the axing of staff when there is already a backlog of essential works throughout the energy industry are thrown centre stage in this enforcement notice.”

To remind, BP yesterday said it would cut its UK workforce due to falling oil prices and challenging market conditions.

Cash said: “BP are actually amongst to best performers in terms of maintenance backlogs so the fact the HSE felt that this enforcement action was necessary is a shocking reflection on the current state of the industry.”

“How can we possibly expect to maintain the infrastructure , sustain production and keep workers safe while a “slash and burn” approach is being used by other operators, such as Marathon, who are amongst the worst performers?”

Source: www.offshoreenergytoday.com