A good place to be

It’s not a home, of course, but it’s definitely something more than just a workplace,” emphasises 59-year-old Tiller after lengthy reflection.

He gets a nod of agreement from Bjørnvik, who is 30 years his junior. That
assent is unsurprising, given how much they have in common despite their
differences in age and experience.

“Both of us have undoubtedly been shaped by being raised in typical north Norwegian industrial communities,” says Bjørnvik, and receives a concurring nod in her turn.

Call

Tiller hails from Mo i Rana, but after graduating from Trondheim Engineering College in 1986 he listened to the rallying call from former mayor Arne Rettedal that “Stavanger’s the place”.

“I moved south because that’s where the jobs were,” he explains. “Roughly half my classmates from Trondheim ended up there.”

Since 1980, he has worked for ConocoPhillips – initially on land and then for more than two decades as an offshore installation manager (OIM).

“I arrived at a time when the pioneers were starting to retire,” he says. “I heard stories about the ‘cowboy’ conditions and so on, but very little of that remained in the culture when I went offshore.”

He feels it is important to get across that he has always worked in a system which has been thorough and properly run, particularly on the safety side.

“But it’s certainly true that big strides have been made in the HSE field throughout these years,” he adds.

Tiller was already an experienced OIM on the Eldfisk Bravo platform when
Bjørnvik was still a child at Ørnes in Meløy local authority, which lies north of Mo i Rana in Nordland county.

She had decided on her career plans at an early age, and was very impatient to secure an apprenticeship to complete her training as a process operator.

As early as the age of 18, she was already boarding a helicopter headed for the Ekofisk field. That was in 2011.

“It was an overwhelming experience to see the platform complex with my own eyes for the first time,” she recalls. “I felt a kind of reverence. But I acquired a good mentor on arrival, and was placed on a shift where I found it easy to be happy.”

Smaller

Both she and Tiller agree that being offshore differs from “normal” life. Everything is smaller. People get closer to each other.

At the same time, things can easily acquire larger dimensions because you have to remain where you are. There are no opportunities to escape. That can be challenging.

“Take conflicts, for example,” says Tiller. “As a manager, you must have your antenna out and get to grips with such things as early as possible.

“That applies wherever you are, of course, but a clash on a platform which goes too far can easily become a safety risk. You can’t allow that to happen.”

But he adds that conflicts are few. People on a platform become a kind of family. An OIM’s strategy must be to spend a lot of time out among people
in order to chat and observe.

“It’s important to have a good picture of what’s happening. One consideration is safety, another is that people must feel they’re seen, heard and informed.”

Key

Information is the key, Bjørnvik agrees. “When it flows well, we have secure workers and safe operation. When it doesn’t, we struggle.”

That represents precisely one of the challenges it is necessary to be aware of, says Tiller. He adds that increased diversity is one of the biggest changes to have occurred since he started offshore.

What was previously a male-dominated industry has altered a great deal in terms of gender distribution and ethnic background over these years.

“It’s good that we reflect society as a whole, but this also demands that you manage to adapt the flow of information to such diversity,” Tiller observes.

Both he and Bjørnvik believe communication is good. Paradoxically, however, they note that this can create problems on the home front.

The pair agree that the current position, with an increased military presence around the platforms, has not had much of an impact on their everyday work – precisely because they have been informed in detail about developments.

“But those at home aren’t,” says Tiller. “They see a news story which perhaps dramatises more. That means the greatest fears are felt by those on land in their own living room.”

Drawbacks

A long life offshore has taught Tiller that being away from the family for 14 days at a stretch can have its drawbacks. “The social and relational bonds can be cut when you return offshore,” he acknowledges. “It demands a lot from those at home.”

Bjørnvik agrees. With two children aged one and six respectively, she has experienced that. Although working on land right now, however, she would not hesitate to go offshore again.

“I got things to go well even though I was away for 14 days at a time, but it depends on having a partner who agrees and is willing to make an effort.”

Satisfied

In other words, the two workers talking at the ConocoPhillips head office in Stavanger are well satisfied with their lives offshore, which they characterise as meaningful, secure and stable.

But, as Tiller says, much has altered since he joined the industry in the late
1980s. Bjørnvik also sees clear changes in the working environment since becoming involved in 2011.

“If you look at safety equipment, for example, a lot’s happened. Particularly in this company,” says Tiller, and notes that the pair of them work on an ageing facility.

“Today, safety’s built in from the start to a much greater extent than before. We’ve got much better detectors, we test more, we’re more secure. It’s a case of continuous improvement – which is necessary.”

Bjørnvik notes again that this is a matter of information flow. Getting a lot of good communication spreads a sense of security.

Barriers

Another big change mentioned by Tiller is barriers. “Our thinking on these today differs significantly from the way we thought in the 1990s.

“If a barrier weakens now – let’s say a number of emergency lights aren’t functioning – a very systematic approach is followed in correcting it, taking compensatory measures and giving everyone a sense of responsibility.”

Bjørnvik is currently working in an onshore office on a project related to operational risk management (ORM). “We’re creating a system for visualising
such aspects as barrier weakening. It’ll be adopted offshore as soon as we’ve finished.

“Although I see that we’re working systematically and well, and that this has got a lot better since I started, it’s about the same thing – continuously improving yourself.”

Unimpressed

Both Tiller and Bjørnvik welcome changes which improve safety. Only one possible innovation leaves them unimpressed.

“I can’t quite get used to the idea of having a control room on land for manned offshore facilities,” Tiller comments, while accepting that he is sticking his neck out as an ageing OIM.

He is therefore quick to emphasis that this is not a matter of technophobia, and that he appreciates that the fewer people working offshore, the lower the risk of injury.

“Where I’m concerned, this issue is about relationships – the ability to talk face to face with people, to listen to them,” he says. “I’m convinced that this is more important for safety and the working environment than you might think.”

Bjørnvik backs him up: “It’s not as easy to build up secure relationships via a screen. The pandemic has surely taught us that.”