800 overweight oil workers in North Sea could soon be fired. Here's why
&imwidth=600&imheight=450&format=webp&quality=medium "800 overweight oil workers in North Sea could soon be fired. Here's why")
No oil worker can weight more than 124 kg in full gear and boots. Photograph: (AFP)
Hundreds of rig workers in the North Sea are facing the threat of being fired for being overweight. New rules state that no worker should exceed a fixed weight, as that creates a safety risk when trying to rescue them in an emergency.
Nearly 800 oil and gas workers stationed in the North Sea can be fired from their jobs in the next two months for being overweight. According to a new rule which kicks in in two months, no worker should weigh more than 124 kilos while dressed up in full gear. This is being done as a safety rule in case they have to be helicoptered off in an emergency. A Coastguard rescue helicopter can carry a maximum winch load of 39 stone, or 247 kg.
Graham Skinner, the health, safety and security manager of Offshore Energies UK, an industry representative, said, “On 1 November, if a worker turns up at the heliport over 124kg (19 st 7 lb), they will not be able to go to work.”
Calculating the total weight that the winch can carry
The mentioned load per worker assumes that the average rescue worker weighs 14 stone (88.9 kg), a stretcher is 4.5st, while the rigger and their kit make up the remainder. So if the worker does not conform to the standard weight, it would not be possible to rescue him on a chopper since the winch cannot be safely deployed and used while the helicopter is in the sky.
Winch load is the maximum force or weight a winch can safely pull using a single line on the bottom layer of its cable drum.
Safety of oil workers
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Skinner said that workers' weight poses a significant risk and that it "affects all aspects of their offshore work from getting on the helicopter and travelling offshore, to working around confined space, working at height", including being able to safely rescue them. He added that this means that it is important to make sure there are no workers who they wouldn't be able to rescue in the worst-case scenario.
The plans were announced last year, and at that time, 2,200 staff were found to be too heavy. This number has fallen to 800. Skinner said that while that is good news, it is important that those who think “this isn't going to happen or it's going to go away”, understand that they need to do some work.
