The Ministry of Labour and Social Affairs invited representatives of employers, unions, and government to join a working group in November 2016 for a joint assessment of and discussion on health, safety, and working environment conditions and trends in the Norwegian petroleum industry. Developments in 2015 and 2016 had created a need to put this position on the agenda.
The report from the group, which will also serve as input to a new white paper on health, safety, and the working environment, was submitted to Labour and Social Affairs Minister Anniken Hauglie at the end of September.
Anne Myhrvold, director general of the Petroleum Safety Authority Norway, notes that broad agreement exists between unions, employer organizations, and the government on current conditions and necessary future action.
“Good and important work has been done by this working group,” Myhrvold said. “Its report shows that the various sides of the industry have a common understanding of the position here and now and are very largely agreed on what is needed to maintain and improve the level of safety in the petroleum sector.”
The working group’s assessments are based on a detailed review of the current health, safety, and working environment regulations and regulatory strategy, developments in the petroleum sector, and the status of and trends in the risk picture. The risk picture has been assessed on the basis both of historical data and statistics and of experience and signals.
Download the report here (PDF in Norwegian with English summary).