Offshore safety body looks into Maersk Drilling’s whistleblowing routines

The Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) and the Norwegian Labour Inspection Authority have jointly audited Maersk Drilling’s routines for handling notifications of censurable conditions (whistleblowing) at work.

The PSA said on Monday that the notification concerns the reporting of censurable conditions at the workplace.

Through their employment, employees may become aware of matters that are or could be contrary to legal acts and regulations, the company’s policies, and the general perception of what is justifiable or ethically acceptable.

According to the PSA, the Working Environment Act gives permanent and contract workers the right to notify censurable conditions.

The notification rules in the Working Environment Act cover cases where an employee notifies censurable conditions in his or her own company. The Act also entitles contracted employees to notify censurable conditions in the contracting company.

“In connection with its systematic HSE work, the employer must prepare procedures for internal notifications or implement other measures to facilitate the right to notify censurable conditions. This right shall contribute to strengthening employees’ genuine freedom of expression in the workplace,” the offshore safety body said.

In its response, Maersk Drilling described the procedure for notifying, receiving, and handling notices of censurable conditions.

The PSA added that the content of the notification routine met the requirements of the Working Environment Act.

But, the offshore safety watchdog said that it appeared from the response that the routine was not prepared in collaboration with the employees and their representatives and that the audit detected one non-conformity linked to deficient employee participation in the preparation of the routine.