Amicus Calls for Improved Guidelines for Offshore Workers

Offshore workers union, Amicus, met with Health and Safety Minister Lord Hunt in Aberdeen today to call for better safety regulations for the oil industry. Meeting with the Minister, Amicus has called for a complete revision of the Health and Safety Representative Regulations for offshore workers. The trade union's representatives say that the current legislation urgently needs revisiting. Amicus National Officer for the offshore industry, Rab Wilson, said today: "The current health and saftery legislation for offshore workers is out of date in an era that encourages greater participation in health and safety issues and management and better workplace invlovement and consultation. "The second class legislation that currently exists is fundamentally failing workers in the offshore industry which should be in a position of excellence. The growth of contractualisation in the industry is also resulting in poorer safety standards offshore." Amicus also says that platforms with more robust standards of health and safety have higher levels of production, a point that needs reinforcing with the oil companies. Lord Hunt has agreed to meet with the union again to discuss changes to the offshore regulations. Amicus is also pursuing a legal case for the European Working Time Directive to be extended to offshore workers, giving them the entitlement to paid time off.