I have the suspicion that the customers KNOW what's going on around the North Sea and are willfuly turning a blind eye in the hope of getting lower cost still, and if an accident happens they expect to be able to pass the blame on the operator.
I agree with everything SASless writes, but as long as there are pilots and engineers that allow themselves to be bullied into accepting conditions that are below standard, they form the weakest link in the safety system. And the difficult choice is to accept a "small" risk and continue to feed the family, or to stand up and be counted for the next round of redundancies.
Caught between a rock and a hard place trying to work out the chances of survival..