Anger after four workers killed in North Sea

North Sea oil workers and their families have been left devastated and angry after the death of four workers on Friday. Their Super Puma helicopter plummeted into the sea off Shetland as they were travelling from the Borsten Dolphin oil platform to Sumburgh airport. The two main trade unions who organise in the off-shore industry, RMT and Unite, demanded the grounding of the Super Puma choppers that have been involved in a series of catastrophic ditching’s over the last few years. All 33 helicopters have now been suspended from use while investigations continue.

The four workers who lost their lives were Sarah Darnley of Elgin,Gary McCrossan from Inverness; Duncan Munro from Bishop Auckland; and George Allison from Winchester. Sarah Darnley was the first women to die in the North Sea. 

The is the fifth ditching of a Super Puma in four years in the North Sea. In 2009 14 workers and 2 crew were killed when the helicopter went into the sea. A further two failures took place last year, thankfully no one was killed in these incidents.

The shocking safety record of the Super Puma has led to a ground swell of demands by oil workers for the scrapping this type of chopper following the ditchings in 2012. At the moment the four variants of the Super Pumas account for 50% of all helicopters in the North Sea, who transport thousands of workers on and off the rigs and platforms.

It is vital that the trade unions draw up concrete proposals for safety and a plan to put to the oil companies and contractors over transport to and from the platforms. There will be a large numbers of workers who will refuse to set foot on any Super Puma again, and they should be given full backing with no attempts at victimisation or disciplinary action. The use of industrial action and a major unionisation campaign across the industry is vital to strengthen the collective power of workers in the oil and gas sector.

The multi-nationals face major potential disruption if workers won’t travel or they have to replace the fleet of helicopters. They will push for a “return to normal” operations as quickly as possible. The unions must ensure they place urgent demands on the employers for action. There can be no business as usual, or further fatalities are inevitable.

The contractors employed by the oil companies to transport workers need to be scrutinised for safety. These helicopters are in constant use with up to 2,000 workers a day being moved in and out. The issue of whether safety checks and proper repair and maintenance is being carried out needs to be scrutinised by elected representatives of workers and trade unions. Ultimately, the oil corporations, in this case Total, must be made accountable for the lives and safety of workers.

But with the profits available to the companies, investment in the safest possible transportation is a priority. The oil unions in Norway fought and won the implementation of the Sikorsky chopper the S-92, widely seen as a safer helicopter.

We spoke to one RMT member who works in the West Shetland area. “This is devastating. I worked on the Borgsten for over four years. We had a representative from Total on our rig just two days ago telling us that the 225 Eurocopter (Eurocopter manufacture the Super Puma), which is about to come back into service, is now fine and the safest chopper there is. I challenged them by pointing out that they used to provide a fixed wing plane from Aberdeen to Shetland and then a chopper for 45 minutes, thereby shortening the flight time in the helicopter. Now we are on a 2 hour chopper flight from Aberdeen to the rig, which is like being stuck in a tin can, increasing the likelihood of an accident. I challenged the Total representative saying this is about a drive for more profit, about saving costs. I’m still waiting for an answer.

This disaster graphically underlines the need for the nationalisation of the oil and gas sector under democratic workers control. Such a measure would both allow safety to be put to the top of the list of priorities and ensure that the wealth created was invested back into jobs, public services and living standards for the majority. Not to line the pockets of the shareholders of the oil multinationals.