Offshore (Oil & Gas)
The Offshore Technical Topic Group was formed in 1991. It serves as a forum for information exchange and contact between occupational hygienists and health/ safety/ environmental professionals working in the offshore sector, and meets twice a year in Aberdeen.
Anyone who is interested in this topic and feels they may have something to contribute to the running of the Group should contact the Chair.
The Chair is Dougie Collin. He can be contacted by e-mail on: offshore.oilandgas@bohs.org
Occupational Hygiene and Health Surveillance around Benzine and Mercury in Oil and Gas Streams - 24 February 2011, Aberdeen
It is the morning after the best event we have ever organised in Aberdeen. Including presenters there was around 60 people attended, a record attendance for the oil & Gas Topic Group. The day went very well and the variety of speakers held everyone’s interest.
The key points to come out of the session was the vast range of opinions on how Benzene & Mercury should be managed in the oil & gas industry and the lively discussions during the open session suggested that BOHS has taken the lead in trying to encourage the industry to have a united approach to this issue and accept there is a need to monitoring, assess and control these two key hazardous substances. The challenge now is how do we do that ?
I, like many others feel BOHS is the best vehicle to keep this issue rolling and it will feature in our involvement in the launch of COSHH Essentials for offshore and beyond to a follow-up session in September which was suggested by many that attended. There was even discussion around a software solution to exposure assessments offshore but this issue will take some time and effort to develop, if at all.
On behalf of BOHS, we owe a big vote of thanks to all those that presented for making it such an interesting session and for those that worked hard behind the scenes, especially Audrey Laing of ConocoPhillips and Dr Trevor Runcie to make this event such a success. The presentations can be viewed here.
The sponsorship of the event by C-CHEC Ltd and ConocoPhillips certainly helped to swell the numbers and although this has its problems, may well be one way that BOHS continues to promote and develop its image as the primary source of information on exposure risk management.