This news release was recently circulated to us by the RMT. (UK Uni0n)
TWO DECADES after 167 offshore workers died in the Piper Alpha disaster, an industry in which billions are made still pays far too little heed to safety, and workers can still effectively be fired for raising concerns, maritime uni0n RMT says today.
Effective organisation of the offshore workforce remains the key to improving safety, says the uni0n, whose recently merged OILC section was formed as a direct result of the July 6, 1988 disaster.
Despite significant efforts to improve safety and industry-specific regulations imposed after the tragedy and the subsequent inquiry, RMT says that workers are still under the threat of being told they are ‘Not Required Back’ (NRB) if they raise safety issues.
Enforcement is lax, not least because the number of inspectors has fallen by 40 per cent since 1994, and there is a feeling among parts of the workforce that the Health and Safety Executive’s Offshore Division has been ‘captured’ by the industry, the uni0n says.
"This is an industry in which millions in profits are made by the hour, but also one in which the threat of NRB still hangs over workers who dare to challenge their employers on safety issues," RMT general secretary Bob Crow said today.
"The Offshore Division of the HSE responsible for enforcing safety standards has dragged its feet on taking formal enforcement action to the extent that many offshore workers see it more as a poodle than a watchdog.
"In more than half the 83 offshore visits they made between 2004 and 2007 the installations were considered to be in a poor physical state, but where is the formal enforcement action?" Bob Crow said.
"In the run-up to Piper hundreds of workers said that it was only a matter of time before a major accident would happen, and the inquiry found that management controls amounted to little more than a ‘paper chase’," said RMT offshore organiser Jake Molloy.
"Yet several incidents since Piper have avoided major fatalities only through good luck, and in many cases concerns raised by the workforce were ignored or dismissed.
"The industry still needs to learn to engage with and listen to its own workforce, and that dissent is not a threat but a priceless insurance against disaster," Jake Molloy said.
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