Oil to Die For

I had the pleasure of working offshore on oil rigs in theStunned workers sat in contemplation of whether it
North Sea off the East coast of Scotland for a periodcould have been one of them that could have died and
of ten years. There are in all likelihood numerousthey all knew that it could have been.
stories relating to occasions when men have lost theirThe dead man suffered and his death was not
lives in pursuit of oil.instantaneous. The details horrified me then and
The stories mean very little until you become a partcontinue to now. Each man on board wanted to be off
player in your own story. Only then does the humanthat rig the very next day. Morale was low to say the
sacrifice bear any relation to the loss suffered.least but the oil industry being what it is ensured that
600 helicopter flights later and with little to show butnobody was allowed to leave the rig and three days
some good stories and valuable experience Iafter the death of a close colleague we were back
sometimes find myself lamenting on occasions worthoutside working and working in the exact spot where
episodic thought.the man had died.
Every health and safety professional will proclaimThe death was attributed to human failing and the
there to be no such thing as an accident in anyactions of one man who ordered a junior to perform a
industry but most especially in the liability obsessedduty that was always going to end in tragedy given
nature of the oil business.the workings and state of affairs on the drill floor at
There are only incidents.that time. Unfortunately everyone on the rig knew that
Health and safety is a booming worldwide concernthe man giving the order was an accident waiting to
and the oil industry has embraced its preachings morehappen given his penchant for screaming orders.
than any other.This man was later charged with manslaughter as it
This is not all bad but still I feel that health and safetybecame apparent the failing of his responsibilities. I am
applies when it suits the company profile or it accountssure that was of no solace to my dead colleagues'
for another check in the obligatory box. Health andfamily.
safety seems never to apply when there is somethingThis was a tragic "incident" and one that would likely
important on the horizon or there is an urgentnever be repeated. The events of that day had
requirement of some sort. So ensues a certain level ofrepercussions around the entire industry as these
skepticism.things normally do.
The oil rig in question was run by one of the moreA single mans life may seem like a small price to pay
safety astute oil companies I had worked for but herefor supplying a very high percentage of the worlds
too it was a case of ticking boxes that had more thanenergy requirements but when you consider that over
likely been scripted from behind a desk in an officethree hundred men lose their lives each year you can
somewhere by people that had never had anyappreciate the extent of problem.
experience of working in such an environment.In the US alone there were 598 deaths between 2002
I had worked regularly on this particular rig over aand 2007. I would estimate that 95% of these deaths
period of three years and so knew well all of thecould have been avoided but while the "get it done
personnel co-sharing that few hundred square metersquick" environment continues to exist there will always
of steel every few weeks.be an association between the oil patch and
The incident in question happened in the early morningunnecessary deaths. Young men are paid a lot of
of an unusually cold August offshore. My associationmoney to step onto a drill floor and the lack of
with the rig meant I had the choice of whether I wouldexperience inevitably leads to a lack of awareness of
work day-shift or night-shift. On this occasion I chosethe dangers. Those dangers are very real and one slip
day-shift.from any of the crew could lead to you not returning
I will never forget being woken at 3am by a colleagueto your family later in the day.
quietly informing me that one of the roughnecks hadI feared for my life on only two occasions offshore
been killed an hour earlier. On hearing the dead mansand both of those times were weather related. The
name all I could visualize was the Glasgow RangersUK North Sea sector is bound by tight legislation and is
football scarf he traditionally wore around his neck priorinfinitely safer than many other areas of the world but
to going on shift each day. I was later disappointed thatstill deaths occur.
the death of a man I'd known for three years couldCan death be eliminated from the industry? Yes they
only stimulate a memory of an article of his clothing.can and hopefully will but only with the correct change
The obvious shock assured I was not likely to return toin attitude. People need to slow down and be aware
sleep so I climbed from the bunk, dressed and headedof their actions. People need to assure the workers at
down to the large recreation room at the base of thethe sharp end of the oilfield that they will not lose their
rig. All of the night-shift personnel were there, mostly injobs if the operation takes a day longer than planned.
silence, unable to venture outside as following theGreed needs to make way for a modicum of caring.
incident the rig had been virtually shut down.Each man that dies has a wife waiting at home or a
Men that had worked offshore most of their adultchild waiting for a kiss goodnight or a mother plating up
years had congregated and were sharing memoriestheir meal and those incidentals are lost to statistics for
of the years gone by with the occasional interjectionthe executives to read the morning after.
of a story relating to their dead colleague. This was aOil is big business with big profit. What is required are
very strange atmosphere and it worsened as morebig people who care about how we get it out of the
and more men filled the room, each of them beinghole.
relayed the information from one source or another.