Part of the trends in risk level in the petroleum activity (RNNP) process, the survey aimed to detail how diving personnel experienced health, safety and environmental (HSE) conditions in their own working environment. Similar studies have been carried out in the rest of Norway’s petroleum sector by the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway (PSA) for a number of years.

The survey had three main goals:

  • provide a description of how employees experience HSE conditions in the petroleum sector, and identify aspects which are significant for variations in this experience
  • help to throw light on underlying conditions which can help to explain results from other parts of the RNNP survey
  • follow trends over time regarding employee experience of HSE conditions in their own workplace.

Results

Results from 2022 show that divers (both saturation and surface-oriented) experience a good deal of working-environment exposure, particularly related to heavy lifts and cold areas exposed to the weather. Skin contact with chemicals or the like (oil, drilling fluids, cleaning agents) is also something many divers experience either now and again or often. This should be viewed in relation to the negative assessments given to the question of whether information has been provided about the potentially harmful effects of chemicals/pollution. 
 
Some negative results are also recorded in relation to the use of procedures, harmonisation of/information on procedures and routines, and reporting of and dealing with nonconformities.  
 
Where health is concerned, virtually everyone in the diver survey (regardless of job category) considers that their health is good or very good, and the extent of health complaints has declined slightly. At the same time, the proportion of respondents who feel that their health problems can be wholly or partially related to their work has increased. 

Improvements

The diver survey was conducted for the first time in 2018, and it still bears the mark of being under development and having a potential for improvement. Based on this year’s experience, revisions will be made to the questionnaire ahead of the next survey in 2024 with the aim of improving the questions and making them more relevant for the target group.