HEALTH ISSUES

Health and Safety Issues for Contracting Companies in the Oil and Gas Industry



Health and Safety Issues for Contracting Companies in the Oil and Gas Industry

Introduction

Health and safety have been fundamental issues around the globe. Companies in every industry pay much attention towards this issue in order to maintain health and safety of their workforce because if their workers or employees get injured because of lack of health and safety in the production, then the company may suffer huge losses as the injured employee will not be able to produce for a longer period. Therefore, companies are paying attention towards the issues of health and safety at the production line and the overall organization. Even, companies are re-examining their business operations and relationship all over the world in a fundamental way. They are trying to explore the concept of employee safety and health. Also, they are seeking to integrate their pursuit of profitable growth with assuring the protection of environment and quality of life for present and future generations. As a result, companies all over the world are making significant changes in their policies, commitments, and business strategies (Myers 2003).

The main cause of injuries and illness among the contractors has been identified as lack of health and safety procedures in organization. However, there are certain regulations, which force organizations to follow certain standard procedures for preventing injuries and illness. Occupational Health Safety Management System is one of the standards which force organizations to design a policy regarding occupational health and safety with the approval of top management, which should demonstrate the commitment of organization for working for the health and well being of contractors.

Contractors may be exposed to a lot of hazards, physical, chemical, biological and psychological, that may constitute a risk to their health. Heavy loads of work physical or ergonomically or poor, working conditions can lead to injuries and disorders such as musculoskeletal. It is estimated that between 50% and 70% of the contractors in the oil and gas industry, in developing countries, is exposed to these types of hazards. Other physical hazards such as noise, vibration, ionizing radiation and ionization, heat and other unhealthy microclimatic conditions also may have adverse health effects that may even lead to cancer (Legator et al. 2001).

In this essay, we will be discussing the health and safety issues for contracting companies in the oil and gas industry. For this purpose, we will begin our analysis by understanding the concepts of contractors and their nature of work, and then we will analyze the issues that are faced by contractors in the oil and gas industry.

Discussion

Companies in oil and gas industry hire contractors to perform certain tasks for them. Contractors are those people that perform certain work for a company or their clients; however, they are not employees of the company. A contractor may then engage other companies to help with elements of the contract. These firms or individuals are known as ...