POOR SAFETY MAINTENANCE STANDARDS IN THE NORTH SEA

RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january 2022 :: RMTnews 15 T he union has raised concerns over the government’s failure to prevent a deterioration in safety critical and environmental maintenance standards in the offshore oil and gas industry. In answer to Written Parliamentary Question 80982 last month tabled by Labour MP for Stockton North, Alex Cunningham, the government revealed that one in four inspections carried out by the Health and Safety Executive reveal poor standards of safety maintenance on installations. Since 2019, only three out of 67 inspections found full compliance. RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said that the findings revealed the escalating threat that commercial pressure and light touch regulation pose to the safety of offshore oil and gas workers. “On top of these disturbing findings, duty holders including Total and their contractors are chipping away at jobs and terms and conditions when they should be tackling basic safety by clearing maintenance backlogs. “Our offshore members are facing existential threats to their industry, no Just Transition and declining safety standards in a multiple hazard workplace. RMT called on industry to use the pandemic to clear these dangerous safety critical and environmental backlogs. “These figures show that some in the offshore industry are going in the opposite direction which increases the risk of a catastrophic safety or environmental incident offshore. RMT will continue to work day and night to prevent this.” Alex Cunningham MP said that it was unbelievable that of the HSE offshore inspections over the last three years shows one in four were judged poor or very poor and just three of the 67 were fully compliant.  This is totally unacceptable – our offshore workers and their families need to know that their workplaces are safe and fit for purpose.  “It is clear that this isn’t the case but my worry is that there could be many more which haven’t been inspected in recent times that may not be at the standard required.  “A more relaxed regime laid down by the Government followed by cuts to required maintenance doubtless led to these failures.  It is time for Ministers to tighten up,” he said.  The Health and Safety Executive has issued an Improvement Notice to Total’s North Sea contractors following an alarming 57 per cent increase in the backlog of safety critical maintenance work over the last year. At the same time, these employers are also pressing ahead with a redundancy programme amongst maintenance staff on Total’s Gryphon asset. respect the tough job that MCA and ITF inspectors do on behalf of seafarers and shipowners. Indeed, the MCA’s detention of the Cypriot flagged container ship Athens Glory in London Gateway in October, due to several crew members working beyond the end of their contract of employment, shows that the system is still working. But it stands to reason that fewer inspections means that more sub-standard safety and employment conditions are being missed. RMT welcome the emphasis on safety in the Maritime 2050 strategy and we have raised our concerns over safety standards with successive Shipping Ministers and at the National Maritime Occupational Health and Safety Committee. The voice of seafarer Ratings is critically important in meeting these concerns and this includes greater co-ordination between port and shipboard safety representatives. We will continue to campaign for onboard safety representatives, including our members, to have greater involvement in safety inspections, risk assessments and training. The first step in that is for shipowners to engage with trade unions to tackle the culture of long hours and the culture of misreporting of hours of rest and work uncovered before the pandemic in the World Maritime University’s EVREST report. The Health and Safety Executive, the TUC and international bodies all acknowledge that trade union organised workplaces are safer workplaces. This needs to be reflected in working and crewing practices across the maritime industry too. As we enter a post pandemic phase of decarbonisation and, hopefully, a return of passenger volumes, RMT stands ready to work with shipping and port companies as these sectors evolve to avoid a repeat of the Swanland by supporting quality shipping registers and guaranteeing that all seafarers are protected at work by the highest possible safety standards. POOR SAFETY MAINTENANCE STANDARDS IN THE NORTH SEA