Health & Safety Report 2015

2. Health Performance Each year, doctors who carry out medical assessments of offshore oil and gas employees globally, as per Oil & Gas UK guidelines, are asked to submit a statistical return, indicating the total number of medicals they have performed and the number of cases in which individuals have failed to pass their assessments. The figures for the past few years are shown below. These illustrate a clear and continuing upward trend in the total number of medicals performed worldwide, which has exceeded 100,000 in each of the past two years and has almost trebled in less than a decade. Meanwhile, the failure rate has been fairly constant, between one and 1.4 per cent overall.

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Figure 1: Examining Doctor Statistics

2010

2014

2015 1,047

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Number of Examining Doctors

796

968

Number of Countries with Oil & Gas UK-accredited Examining Doctors

37

50

55

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Year

Total Number of Medicals Conducted

Percentage of Medicals Failed (Total Number)

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2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014

39,780 48,941 56,850 59,900 93,219 113,006 118,597

1.3 (503) 0.2 (108) 1.4 (784) 1.1 (665)

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1.4 (1,284) 1.2 (1,333) 1.1 (1,285)

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The most common causes for individuals failing these assessments are listed below and they have been very consistent over a number of years. Cardiac disease remains the most common cause, accounting for 13 per cent of all failed medicals in 2014.

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Figure 2: Top Six Causes for Failing Medical Assessments

2010

2013

2014

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Cardiac Diabetes

Cardiac

Cardiac

Hypertension

Hypertension

Weight

Diabetes

Weight

Psychiatric

Weight Dental

Diabetes

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Hypertension Drug Abuse

Drug Abuse

Drug Abuse

Dental

Precise figures are not yet available for the past year, but based on historic figures, cardiovascular disease (heart attacks and, increasingly, strokes) is likely to remain the leading cause for medical emergencies on offshore installations.

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