Health & Safety Report 2014

HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT 2014

2.2 Deaths from Medical Causes Among Offshore Workers Although the industry gathers figures on deaths and serious injury due to accidents, figures for deaths or serious events due to medical causes are difficult to obtain. With the co-operation of the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) and Grampian Police (now Police Scotland), Oil & Gas UK gathered available data for the northern sector of the UK North Sea and figures are available for 2011 and 2012. In these two years, a total of nine deaths due to medical causes are known to have occurred in offshore workers in the northern sector while on offshore installations. Of these, eight were due to cardiovascular disease and one due to suicide. The deaths from cardiovascular disease all occurred in persons over 40 (the youngest being 43), and five of the eight deaths were in persons over 50. In only two instances were the workers thought confidently to be non-smokers. These figures may underestimate the actual number of deaths which occurred, but they suggest that a major cause of medical mortality among offshore workers may be cardiovascular disease (meaning heart attack) and that smoking may be implicated in such deaths. There is a need to gather better and more robust figures on offshore medical mortality in future to understand and address the risk factors involved. 2.3 Serious Medical Events Among Offshore Workers Serious medical events among offshore workers will inevitably result in the worker being ‘medevaced’ to medical care ashore. Two medical provider companies offer most of the medical cover for the UK sector. No precise figures are currently available on the number and causes of medevac of offshore personnel, but it is known that two studies are either under way or in the planning stage, with the aim of providing this information. Accounts from doctors providing ‘topside’ medical services to industry suggest that a major cause of serious medical illness leading to medevac of offshore personnel is cardiovascular disease and, increasingly, strokes. Understanding the pattern of serious medical illness occurring in offshore workers is essential to planning medical care for the workforce, and it is expected that future editions of this report will include an annual summary from ‘topside’ service medical providers regarding the number and causes of serious medical occurrences offshore. 2.4 Smoking and E-Cigarettes Safety-related constraints stipulate that smoking is only permitted within designated safe locations on offshore installations. Recent government figures indicate that the proportion of smokers in the general population continues to fall over time, whilst nicotine use in the form of ‘e-cigarettes’ is increasing. Employers across the industry have requested advice from Oil & Gas UK, which is expected to lead to guidance being produced on managing nicotine use on the UK Continental Shelf (UKCS). 2.5 Nutrition and Food Quality The quantity and quality of food consumed clearly has an influence on the development of obesity, and the Department of Health has published guidance for employers and caterers on the nutritional standards of food provided in workplaces 2 . It is uncommon for explicit provisions on the nutritional quality of food to be included in catering contract arrangements, but it is expected that concerns regarding the shape and size of offshore workers, which has changed significantly in the last three decades, will change this situation in the future.

2 Healthier and More Sustainable Catering: A Toolkit for Serving Food to Adults is available to download at www.gov.uk/government/publications/healthier-and-more-sustainable-catering-a-toolkit-for-serving-food-to-adults

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