farsouth
9th Oct 2009, 09:06
In this morning’s Aberdeen Press and Journal there is a report that Apache are considering going back to 3 weeks on/3 weeks off for their contract workforce offshore (from 2 weeks on/2 off). According to the report, the main reason is given as “safety reasons”, (presumably by reducing the number of flights workers are exposed to), although the spokesman accepted that it would also give cost savings in helicopter operations.
I don’t have the figures to back it up, but I would guess that a workforce working 3 weeks of 12 hour shifts would be more of a safety concern than an extra helicopter flight.
It seems a shame to me that after all the efforts put into improving safety in the helicopter industry that they can still use the “safety” label to try to justify what seems to me just to be a cost-cutting excercise.
I don’t have the figures to back it up, but I would guess that a workforce working 3 weeks of 12 hour shifts would be more of a safety concern than an extra helicopter flight.
It seems a shame to me that after all the efforts put into improving safety in the helicopter industry that they can still use the “safety” label to try to justify what seems to me just to be a cost-cutting excercise.