Union calls for more 'honest' reporting of offshore incidents
Unite says all fatalities and incidents in offshore gas and oil should be reported 'as one'

Today, the largest union offshore, Unite (Amicus Section), has called for full health and safety statistics in relation to the offshore oil and gas sector to be combined and released in a more open, honest fashion.

Unite Regional Officer, Graham Tran, stated

 "I fully accept that the HSE (Offshore Division) can only report on statistics that fall within their remit. These statistics in no way reports the true picture of the extent of the problem we have in the North Sea. I would personally like to thank the HSE (Offshore Division) for their strong message that they have sent to the industry when releasing their latest figures. However, we can not lose sight of the fact that we have had eleven other fatalities in this reporting period".

Mr Tran added "In October last year we lost four lives when the Meridian vessel sank whilst on duty for an oil operator, a further seven lives were lost when a helicopter ditched off Morecambe Bay when transporting oil and gas workers. These incidents are reported as Maritime and Aviation statistics respectively and therefore hides the true figure for the offshore oil and gas sector."

Unite (Amicus Section) are calling on the relevant bodies to revisit their reporting procedures to ensure that all fatalities and incidents relating to offshore oil and gas are reported as one. This means that in the present reporting period (2007/8) we once again have an unacceptable record when it comes to fatalities, given that eight lives were lost in the Bourbon Dolphin incident in April 2007.

Mr Tran concluded "Nothing is to be gained by trying to hide behind more favourable headlines. These incidents have happened, lessons have to be learned and the full facts have to be in the public arena, this includes all relevant statistics."