Occupational health check

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Dr. Malcolm Maclean, GMC Associated Clinics, Dubai.

What are the services you provide to the Oil and Gas industry?

Firstly we ensure that employees that are recruited are fit for the job - if someone is not there to guide them when recruiting people it will cost them money and time.

We also do periodic executive medical examinations to check if any of the employees are displaying symptoms of disease, which will need curing and as result will improve their performance and prolong their time with the company.

Other services include evaluating employees who have sustained a disability and pre-retirement medicals. We also do specialised medical examinations for offshore workers such as pilots and divers - these are situations where exceptional levels of health are required and defined tests are needed. We may also be required to represent a company in court to provide medical evidence.

What are the specific challenges of offshore work?

The extreme climate can lead to dehydration and salt depletion, and there are the psychological dangers attached to the isolation of offshore work. It is hard to maintain good levels of fitness, and being away from home for long periods of time can put a strain on relationships.

But the main issue attached to offshore work and why offshore work requires special examinations goes back to 1988 when the Piper Alpha oil platform exploded and scores were killed.

Those who escaped tended to be the ones who could run and escape fast, so you've got to be able to run, climb, hear, see properly, and be able to swim. If they cannot do these things they are a risk to others.

These are the things we have got to check before they go offshore, because if the rig goes up and there are employed people who are not supposed to be working then the company is not covered by insurance, and with the rush to develop oilfields there may be a temptation to cut corners for the correct procedures.

What training and education do you provide to offshore workers?

We can do first aid training for the workplace onshore, the training of paramedics offshore and provide backup of paramedics to be replaced in distant locations. We also offer travel clinics, training in the proper use of a workstation, training in lifting and carrying, and monitoring of noisy workplaces for hearing damage.

With all the strategies put in place after the Piper Alpha incident, this means the employee is often aware of the health associated requirements of the job. But having said that I would say they are not sufficiently aware of maintaining their fitness.

They may pass the initial examination but are smoking 30 cigarettes a day. You could say that is also that is a challenge for the employer: Do they take steps to maintain the health and fitness of these people? We provide that service to them, so they are not losing employees.

What procedures need to be taken in the event of an accident?

In the case of an accident we will undertake a medical examination if an employee makes a mistake which could or has resulted in a dangerous situation. We will be in there asking the question is this person fit for the job, is this person an alcoholic, or are they taking drugs?

I was involved in one instance in Kuwait, where a tanker moored at the oil terminal was filling up with oil, the harbour master looks out of the window and there was oil all over the harbour. It turned out that the person who was the captain was drunk in his bed and a disaster was only narrowly avoided.

How do you intervene in cases of exposure to hazardous chemicals such as Benzene?

For employees exposed to dangerous chemicals we would include them in a programme of medical surveillance, where we work on the work process involved and try to limit the hazard by reducing the exposure levels to the employee. We will monitor them for signs of exposure, and if they are positive we would integrate them into our special programme for medical surveillance.

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