UK Issues Safety Notice On Total’s North Sea Shift Changes

UK authorities have issued French Total a safety notice regarding shift changes at Scottish gas facilities that are at the centre of a dispute with unions.

The notice says Total has “failed” to adequately assess the safety risks around changing offshore rotas, the Aberdeen Evening Express reports. Strikes at Total’s North Sea rigs over the changes were called off in late March; the Unite union claimed that the industrial action was derailed by “intimidation”.

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) issued the notice in February, following an inspection of the Shetland gas plant, where workers are being moved from a two weeks on, three weeks off rota (2:3) to a 3:3, 3:4 pattern. It states that Total failed to sufficiently assess the “fatigue risk” arising from the change for workers carrying out tasks to control major accident hazards. Total has until August to respond, the newspaper reports.

The dispute at Total is separate from the threat of industrial action at BP platforms owned by Petrofac, although centres on the same issue of shifts. Unite union members voted March 20 to launch action.