SPC/ENF/160
This SPC introduces Offshore Information Sheet 7/2008 Operational guidance for assessing management of shift work and fatigue offshore 1 and Offshore Information Sheet 8/2008 Policy on working hours offshore 2 and provides guidance for inspectors regarding the regulation and inspection of shift working and working hours offshore. HSE’s general guidance on shift work is contained in HSG 256 and inspector’s are advised to familiarise themselves with HSG 256 so that they can understand the relationship between the guidance on shift work offshore and onshore. Operations Notice 65 Terms and Conditions of Employment. The Working Time Regulations - Extension offshore, has been updated to reflect the publication of this new guidance.
The information sheets provides advice on good practice approaches to shift working and setting polices for working hours in the offshore industry. While it is intended to be used in conjunction with HSE's generic guidance on shift work this document provides specific advice relating to working practices in the UK offshore sector that fall outside the scope of the generic guidance
In common with most UK industrial work situations and, unlike the rail and aviation sectors,, shift working and hours worked offshore have not been subject to prescriptive regulation. However health and safety legisalation has always required a consideration of human limitations when managing hazards and operating a safe system of work. The Working Time Directive (WTD) marks a departure from this situation however, despite having been in force in onshore industry and having come into force offshore it is not clear whether the WTD has had any significant impact offshore on working hours beyond implementing 14 days paid leave for contract employees. The industry trend to 3 on 2 off tours leads to a work pattern that more than meets the WTD requirements when averaged over the year. A 2 on 2 off schedule with an additional 2-week break (i.e. one less tour) is also compliant when averaged over the year. The impact of the WTD on working arrangements will be limited by a number of features that could equally undermine any attempt at working hours regulation, for example:
While in general the nature of both the workers and the tasks vary so widely the association between working hours and health and safety is complex and unlikely to be captured by a simple regulatory rule, two simple limits can be stated with some confidence:.
Both of these specific limitations are supported by a considerable weight of evidence and probably relate to fundamental features of human performance.
The "equal time" rule of providing a number of days shore rest equal to the tour length is a matter of industry custom and practice and not enshrined in regulations. While abuse of the equal time arrangement is not widespread, we do receive a number of complaints that suggest some specialist contractors do breach this and work staff excessive hours, by combining offshore tours with back-to-back work onshore.
While the WTD requires the annual hours to be spread over the year, in practice this can be compressed into an intensive 6 month period. While this is counter to the WTD, industry and HSE guidance complaints indicate that it does occur in activities such as construction offshore where it increases productivity during the summer weather window and has proved difficult to identify and prevent. The situation in both the Norwegian and Dutch sectors is quite different with both having firmly regulated tour lengths and off-duty periods. Revisions to the implementation of the WTD may impact on this practice, and could require the rest entitlement to be taken within the contract duration for short-term contracts. One example would be a six-month construction project. This issue has been the subject of several successful legal challenges.
The Working Time Regulations are enforced by HSE, and HSE now employs a cadre of Working Time Officers who act as focal points for WTD related issues. This also covers the offshore sector but at this early stage the best advice is that duty holders maintain a record of hours worked. Failure to record hours should be considered a breach of the WTD as the duty holder would be unable to demonstrate compliance in the absence of such records.
Because of this complexity inspectors must remember;
HSE’s objectives in assessing shift work and working hours are to ensure, so far as these factors can, that employees are awake, alert and healthy and in a fit state to undertake their duties safely with regard to occupational and major hazards.
In doing this consideration has to be made of both the demands of working hours and the duration and quality of resting hours. If the regulation of working time is difficult, the regulation of rest is even more so. For this reason the approach taken here is not dependent on regulations related to working hours but is based instead on existing Health and Safety Regulations that require:
This leads naturally to the approach based around Safety Management Systems (SMS) and risk assessment described in information sheet 8/2008
Where it has become common practice to schedule 12 hours work over 14 or 16, in the event of an accident, inspectors should seek evidence of the hours actually worked.
Inspectors should alert duty holders to the hazards of allowing deliberate violations of corporate process to become embedded as these can undermine wider attempts to promote procedural compliance and a positive safety culture.
