Working environment survey

By Gunleiv Hadland, Norwegian Petroleum Museum

Odd H Hellesøy was appointed Mobil’s research manager for the working environment in January 1979, and initiated a project on the working environment, health and safety on Statfjord.
The government, the employees and their families all openly recognised a lack of reliable knowledge about the likely outcome of spending long periods in a working environment which seemed so technologically complex and possibly dangerous.

— Part of the frontpage of the working environment survey published in 1984.

Intended to identify the positive and negative sides of working on Statfjord, the research project spent much of 1980 gathering information. An extensive and in-depth questionnaire survey of 698 people began in March. Data acquisition continued for six months.

Women reported more problems with job satisfaction than men. Concern over incidents or conditions at home were a widespread problem. Findings by the project were used to improve work organisation, and further studies took place.

SAS Catering AS had experienced a high level of sickness absence among its personnel on Statfjord A, and an ergonomic investigation was proposed in 1980. Work on this began the following year, when Norske Chalk had taken over the catering contract for the platform.

The survey found in part that many employees suffered from musculo-skeletal problems because of their working posture, particularly when lifting and carrying. Such problems lay behind every fourth visit to the Statfjord sick bay.

These working environment surveys were followed up with changes and advice on posture. But later studies also identified musculo-skeletal afflictions, particularly among catering, drilling and maintenance/scaffolding personnel.

Sources:
Hellesøy, Odd H. Arbeidsplass Statfjord: arbeidsmiljø, helse og sikkerhet på en oljeplattform i Nordsjøen . Bergen 1984, pp 12-14 and 389-397.
Klausen, Ivar, company medical officer, Norske Chalk AS, “Slitasjelidelser hos cateringspersonell”. In Remøe and Tønnesen (eds). Cateringarbeideren i Nordsjøen . Stavanger 1982, p 59.
Mobil Explorer , December 1981, pp 10-11. “Arbeidsmiljø, helse og sikkerhet på Statfjordfeltet”.
Bakke et al. “Muskel- og skjelettplager innen petroleumsvirksomheten på sokkelen”. Tidsskrift for den norske lægeforening , no 20 2004.