Malcolm Gunnyeon, partner and expert in health and safety law, Brodies LLP, speaks on the impact of offshore strike action:
There are few aspects of our personal and professional lives which have not been impacted by industrial action at some point since June last year.
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Despite the UK Government’s optimistic tone during the recent spring budget announcement, there is no doubt that the cost-of-living crisis and continuing global economic uncertainty remain a very real challenge, not least for those who feel they have no option but take to industrial action in an attempt to address the increasing cost of living.
Whilst there may be a perception that the North-east is insulated from the worst of the economic turmoil, the reality is that over recent months there has been a significant increase in tension between employers and trade unions in the offshore energy sector. Further evidence of that increasing tension came on Monday 20 March with the Unite union announcing the potential for industrial action by its 1,400 offshore members. There is speculation that similar announcements may come in the near future from the ESA, RMT and GMB unions.
Would industrial action on this scale disrupt production in the North Sea? It is difficult to see how that could be avoided. Even if there were enough non-striking workers to perform key tasks, the key question is whether those tasks could be performed safely during industrial action?
Every duty holder involved in offshore operations in the North Sea must take all reasonably practicable steps to ensure the safety of their employees. The well-established safe systems of work in place on offshore installations rely on skilled, trained and experienced staff to implement them. Industrial action does not lower the threshold of reasonable practicability, and it would not offer a defence in the event of an incident during a period of reduced personnel. The law would expect duty holders to curtail their operations during such periods, not attempt to run them with insufficient resource. Given the industry’s focus on safety, it is inevitable that production will be impacted during periods of industrial action, with operators only carrying out operations where normal safety levels can be maintained.
In a further example of the wide-ranging impact of industrial action on the sector, Tuesday 14 March saw a day of strike action by offshore HSE inspectors, leading to cancellation of all offshore inspections.
Whilst no doubt inconvenient, for both inspectors and duty holders, the impact of a single day of strike action can be managed, and inspections rescheduled. What may well prove far more significant is the continuous period of further non-strike industrial action which began Thursday 16 March. This action involves inspectors working to contracted hours, a ban on overtime and a withdrawal of goodwill. This echoes the action taken by train drivers which caused such significant disruption on Scotland’s railways last year.
One of the issues which has given rise to the current situation is the concern on the part of staff and the trade union that the HSE lacks the resource to meet current offshore inspection requirements in oil, gas and offshore wind. Given the recruitment and resourcing challenges being experienced across a range of sectors at the present time, it would be no surprise if the HSE was facing a similar issue.
That problem will, of course, only be compounded by an extended period of constrained resource. As noted above, it is inconceivable that the industry and the HSE will allow offshore safety to be compromised. There has, quite rightly, been no suggestion of that. But there are bound to be consequences of a constrained HSE resource. A backlog of inspections will inevitably develop; duty holders may find it more difficult to access advice and support from the HSE; investigations of less serious incidents may be delayed. None of this will be palatable for an industry which places such a premium on the safety of its operations and its people.
Decisions to take industrial action are complex and not taken lightly. There is inevitably a range of public opinion whenever action is taken, and frustration when daily life is disrupted. However, whatever your place on the spectrum of public opinion and across the political divide, there must surely be a desire for a renewed focus on resolving the underlying issues so that safety-critical services can return to normal.
Malcolm is based in Aberdeen and is an expert in health and safety law, with a particular focus on the energy and transport sectors.