Health on the job

Healthy employees work more efficiently and take less time off work. Management of exposure to hazards, along with management of health conditions in relation to work, enhances the health of a work force with the consequent benefits. Similarly good OH practice decreases the exposure of businesses to claims, demonstrates legal compliance and improves the reputation of the business as well.

Effective OH starts with getting the policies right and from these developing appropriate protocols and procedures.

Developing protocols and procedures begins with risk assessment, looking at the functional requirements of jobs, potential exposure to hazards – where an occupational hygienist may be required if these need to be measured – and control measures. Once the risks have been evaluated the content and frequency of any health assessment programme can be determined right away, along with the need for further assessments and other activities within the workplace.

Pre-employment health evaluations provide the opportunity to assess applicant’s fitness for work and to determine any adjustments or modifications to the job that may be needed, should they be required to ensure the employees ability to efficiently carry out their job. The level of examination and investigations should be related to the nature of the job. Office workers, for example, require a less rigorous evaluation than offshore workers who are exposed to more hazards and have limited access to higher-level medical facilities.

In-employment health evaluations are used to detect any change in health that may affect fitness to work. Such conditions may be work related (eg musculoskeletal problems from computer work) or work related (eg diabetes).

Health evaluations can be done to detect any harm that may have arisen from specific exposures at an early stage and enable appropriate action to be taken. Hearing tests can be used to pick up noise induced hearing loss, urine and blood tests along with physical examinations are used for those exposed to benzene, and physical examinations sometimes including blood tests can be used for those exposed to ionising radiation.

In some parts of the region such evaluations are required by law. In addition to risk in terms of exposure, risk-based evaluations can be done in relation to the task and potential outcome of medical conditions impacting on the conduct of such tasks. Evaluations for this purpose include heavy vehicle drivers (particularly those driving hazardous loads) and divers.

Drug and alcohol programmes can be effectively used to decrease the risk of incidents related to substance abuse. Some global companies require their contractors to have such programmes in place before they will do business with them. Despite the sensitivity to such issues, there are large oil and gas companies within the region who have successfully implemented such programmes.

Assessment of exposure to occupational hazards are an integral part of a quality occupational health system. Significant physical hazards within the industry include heat, noise and radiation (eg in non destructive testing and well logging) particularly in the upstream businesses. Exposure to benzene ranks high in the list of chemical hazards due to its capability of causing cancer while legionnella (the cause of Legionnaire’s disease) is a well-known biological hazard associated with cooling systems.

The risk from these hazards can be assessed by a competent occupational hygienist. Shift work is well recognised as a potential contributor to ill health and the increased risk of accidents. This is another area where a good quality OH system will be able to contribute to developing and managing a safe system of work based on best international practice.

Health education can be used to reduce health problems arising from work (eg as part of hearing conservation programmes) or to raise awareness and help manage general public health issues such as obesity and hypertension. One oil and gas company in the UAE has used visits by a personal trainer to significantly reduce the level of obesity and hypertension, along with the risk of developing diabetes, among its offshore workers.

OH also aids legal compliance. Throughout the region there are laws relating to the health of the employee. While these vary between countries, the general duty is to protect the employee from hazards in the workplace and OH plays a key role in this.

There are many examples of good OH practice adding value to business in the oil and gas sector.

In the US, an offshore wellness programme led, over four years, to a three-fold reduction in back injuries and a 2.3 fold reduction in first-aid cases. The return on investment was calculated as US $2.5 per dollar invested from the reduction in accidents alone.

An active case support system introduced to an offshore oil and gas company in the UK for their 2 000 employees reduced the absence rate from 16 cases per week in June 2003, to six cases in the entire system by February 2004 (from 12% to less than 2%).

A UK downstream gas provider with over 9 000 employees noted significant absence due to back problems. Utilising a back pain management programme the lost time due to back pain was reduced by 43%, with 73% of the participants in the programme having no back-related time off work.

The return on investment was calculated at UK  £31 for every UK  £1 invested.

Within the oil and gas industry in the Middle East OH currently remains a relatively under utilised service, with the potential to bring significant benefits to business.