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The Guardian: More safety breaches found on Shell’s North Sea rigs

Terry Macalister, The Guardian photograph

Terry Macalister 
Thursday November 8 2007

Shell has once again been rapped over the knuckles by the Health and Safety Executive for safety problems on its North Sea platforms despite pledges from chief executive Jeroen van der Veer that he was determined to change the culture after problems in the past.

The HSE confirmed last night that it had upheld various complaints made by trade unions about staffing and operational procedures on the Cormorant Alpha, Dunlin Alpha and three other platforms and asked the oil group to take immediate action.

“We will be monitoring progress and will take action if there is clear evidence of any breaches of the law but Shell has already started to address the concerns,” said a spokesman for the HSE.

But the Unite union said it was not entirely reassured and still “feared” for the safety of its members.

Shell, which earned £1.5m an hour last year, has been through a torrid time over North Sea safety since one of its own most experienced inspectors, Bill Campbell, blew the whistle on his employer claiming that safety procedures were being repeatedly ignored on some platforms.

The company was fined £900,000 following an accident on the Brent Bravo platform in 2003 but as recently as the summer of 2006, Mr van der Veer emailed staff calling on them to improve safety and saying it could take “years” to convince critics that procedures had improved.

The HSE, which has served 42 formal notices on Shell to improve platform safety between 1999 and the start of 2007, said it could not comment on the specifics of the complaints but confirmed they covered working hours and management culture.

The OILC union said the investigation by the HSE’s offshore safety division had uncovered evidence that “excessive” hours were being worked on the five platforms which are currently up for sale.

“In the case of supervisory staff it was commonplace for 14 and 15 hour shifts. All staff generally were working 13 hours per day and this increased dramatically during unplanned shutdowns.”

Shell said it could not comment in-depth about the situation but in a formal statement last night it said: “This investigation is ongoing and we are cooperating fully with the HSE in addressing any concerns they may have. We continue to keep our staff and the HSE informed.”

Graham Tran, an officer with Unite, said: ” Despite the constant denials by Shell that there were clear safety problems, Shell have once again been found wanting in their approach to safety issues … I personally fear for the ongoing safety of the offshore workforce on these installations.”

http://www.guardian.co.uk/business/2007/nov/08/oil

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