Health & Safety Report 2016

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3.2 Examining Doctors’ Assessments and Training
Each year, doctors carry out medical assessments of offshore oil and gas employees around the globe using the
Oil & Gas UK Medical Aspects of Fitness for Offshore Work: Guidance for Examining Physicians4. The doctors
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 number of medicals performed
has exceeded 100,000 in each of the past three years and has almost trebled in less than a decade. The failure rate
has been fairly consistent, between 1 and 1.4 per cent each year.
Figure 2: Examining Doctors’ Statistics
Year Total Number of Medicals Conducted
Percentage of Medicals Failed
(Total Number)
2010 56,850 1.4 (784)
2011 59,900 1.1 (665)
2012 93,219 1.4 (1,284)
2013 113,006 1.2 (1,333)
2014 118,597 1.1 (1,285)
2015 111,651 1 (1,125)
The most common causes for individuals failing these assessments are related to cardiac disease, diabetes, drug
abuse, weight, hypertension and respiratory disease, and these have been consistent over a number of years.
Almost three per cent of the total Oil & Gas UK medical certificates issued in 2015 were restricted, that is the
certificate was valid for one (or more) named installation(s) only and issued only after discussion with the operator
of the installation(s) concerned. The top three causes for restricted medical certificates are related to weight,
diabetes or cardiovascular conditions.
To join the Oil & Gas UK list of examining doctors, medical professionals must complete the association’s
Introduction for Oil & Gas UK Registered Doctors course. This training course is designed to give delegates
knowledge of life and work offshore so that they have a better understanding of the standard of medical fitness
required. The course involves an underwater helicopter training exercise. In 2015, 170 doctors were trained
through 11 workshops.
Oil & Gas UK also annually runs an Examining Doctors Conference to bring together registered doctors from
across the world, providing them with essential updates and networking opportunities. Over 100 doctors from
31 countries attended the 2015 conference.
4 The Medical Aspects of Fitness for Offshore Work: Guidance for Examining Physicians is available to download at
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