Is working on oil rig dangerous or worth the salary ?
Lots of people are looking to work on oil rigs as an alternative to the more usual career options over the last few years.
This has been put down to the economic downturn and the lack of jobs out there.
We have been talking to a young man who has been in the construction industry for some years but has found that there is much less work available. With this in mind and recently starting a family he has decided to have a look at working the offshore oil rigs. He has admitted that it will be a struggle at first working away from his family but considers that the benefit of working 6 months on and six months off will give him more quality time with his family than he may get with a normal job where you just see the family at night and weekends.
Oh and not to mention that oil rig jobs offer high salary (up to 4 times his normal income) paid!
So far this all sounds pretty reasonable and worth investigation, but what about health and safety aboard the rigs?
I mean there is no point getting paid a hundred grand a year if you’re not going to be about to enjoy it right?
Well we have been doing a bit of investigating and this is what we have found out so far.
A lot of attention and time is put into health and safety (generally and training) including inductions, safety meetings and tool box talks.
There is a ban on all things that cause fire (don’t take your matches!) and you have to remove batteries from your electrical items before admittance to the platform.
All luggage is searched before you board the helicopter or boat to prevent anything that may cause harm.
Various drug and alcohol test are carried out and there is even a breathalyzer before you are granted access on board many rigs if you look a bit groggy.
You are sure to lose your oil rig job if found to breach any safety rules.
Each offshore oil rig has a medic and its own mini hospital but there will always be a helicopter or some means of fast transport on call for emergencies but this will be at best a couple of hours (you are in the middle of the sea miles from civilisation!).
All equipment used on the rigs has a special colour code that indicate when it has been tested (these test are to higher standards than normal onshore work).
Due to catastrophes in the past health and safety is a high priority but lets face it you are drilling for highly flammable materials in the middle of nowhere!
As one official said problems on oil rigs are like plane crashes they are very rare but do a lot of damage when they do happen.
So would it worry you to be an air stewardess or an oil rig worker?
If you are interested in working on the rigs check out some of these sites.
