Major survey to assess offshore staff wellbeing

Shocking figures on the mental health of offshore workers have sparked plans for a major survey of wellbeing in the North Sea.

The International Association of Drilling Contractors (IADC) is set to launch the survey alongside Step Change in Safety and Robert Gordon University (RGU).

Last year a report by the IADC found 40% of onshore and offshore remote rotational shift workers experienced suicidal thoughts while on duty.

That prompted the trade association to launch a mental health charter and seek wider industry support for a 10-point plan to improve North Sea workers’ mental wellbeing.

By the end of last year, 35 organisations had signed up. Darren Sutherland, chairman of the North Sea Chapter of the IADC, said: “We had a good initial surge of people signing up for the charter and on the back of the charter we’ve formed a mental health taskforce.

“We’ve got three clinical psychologists and mental practitioners on that team, Graeme Kinghorn from Mental Health Aberdeen sits on that, and we’ve got Step Change in Safety and OEUK (Offshore Energies UK).”

The aim of the taskforce is to “challenge industry on whether we’re doing enough,” Mr Sutherland explained.

Now the IADC wants to assess the state of mental wellbeing among the North Sea workforce.

Mr Sutherland said: “We are also engaging with Step

Change in Safety and we’re talking to Robert Gordon University to look at the creation of a mental health and wellbeing survey for industry – to cover not only oil and gas but also renewables and marine – and we’re hoping to get the Marine Safety Forum involved in that as well.”

The findings of the survey, which the IADC hopes to roll out by the summer, will be used as the basis for an initial annual report on mental health and wellbeing in the sector.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has the power to serve notices to firms regarding workplaces or cultures that cause harm to mental health offshore. However, law firm Brodies found that there is no record of the HSE ever serving such a notice.

Victoria Anderson, a senior associate at Brodies, said: “Mental health is covered by the remit of the 1974 Act and so it’s always been something which the HSE has the power to investigate.”

Ms Anderson believes that “the social mandate in terms of looking at mental health has increased” and the lack of reporting will change as the stigma around speaking out about mental health recedes.

Mental health is a difficult thing for the HSE to serve a notice on for a number of reasons. The watchdog has to ascertain that the cause of any mental health issues originates entirely from a workplace and culture and cannot be an amalgamation of personal and work issues. And multiple workers need to report mental health issues for notices to be served.

An HSE spokesperson said: “There is a legal duty to ensure the risks from work-related stress are properly assessed. Where a risk is identified, employers must take steps to either remove or reduce it as far as reasonably practicable.”

IADC’s Darren Sutherland.