Apache Oil proposal to improve workforce "safety"
 

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.

You certainly have a point.

But (yes there is always a but). On a modern well designed platform the individual risks of the works have a large element which comes from their helicopter transportation. Given Apache's patforms that is less of a factor but the unfortunate reality is that the various helicopter safety initatives have not had a lot of impact on improving the fatal accident rate.

But there is little doubt this is a cost saving exercise being given a gloss as a safety improvement.

Which helicopter company won the Apache contract?

Should be announced in the next 7 - 10 days.


As for improved safety, I seem to remember that the 3 on/3 off routine was tried by some major oil companies a while ago and binned because the incident rate offshore increased.