Union spotlights safety after Piper Alpha

After a memorial ceremony held in Aberdeen yesterday to mark the 20th anniversary of the world’s worst offshore disaster, the loss of the Piper Alpha platform was cited by a trade union which said the industry still pays “Too little heed to safety.”

Britain’s RMT – the national union of Rail, Maritime and Transport workers –declared: “A industry in which billions are made still pays far too little heed to safety, and workers can still effectively be fired for raising concerns.”

Workers who do have the courage to voice concern about safety practices offshore can be dismissed from an installation, the union argues.

“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,” the union declared in a statement issued to coincide with the 20th anniversary on the evening of 6 July 1988 which resulted in the loss of 167 lives.

In Aberdeen the anniversary of the tragedy was marked with a church service and then at the Piper Alpha Memorial in a city park.

“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,” stated the RMT.

And Bob Crow, the general secretary of the RMT added: “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.”

One of the related issues highlighted by the RMT is a fall in the number of specialist Offshore Safety Division inspectors from the UK Health and Safety Executive – by 40% from 200 in 1994.to less than 120 in 2007/8 which it suggests has contributed to a lack of enforcement action over safety regulations. Sunday, July 6, 2008