The Press and Journal (Aberdeen and Aberdeenshire)
Shell to end ‘hated’ rotas
Three-week offshore working pattern to be thrown out in 2019
Oil giant Shell has revealed it plans to ditch the “hated” threeweek offshore rotas on its central North Sea platforms next year.
The Anglo-Dutch major said the move would increase productivity and reduce costs – and had been greeted with a “positive response” from staff.
The company made the decision after concluding a review aimed at tackling “issues from offshore personnel” and boosting efficiency.
Trade unions welcomed the move and said they hoped other oil companies would follow Shell’s example.
Repsol Sinopec Resources UK confirmed last month that it was conducting its own review of offshore schedules.
Crew on three platforms operated by Total have downed tools in recent months in response to the French firm’s plans to introduce three-week, equal-time rotas.
Shell’s full-time employees have three weeks on, four weeks off (3:4) schedules, while contractors have 3:3 rotas.
But all workers on Shell’s central North Sea assets, including contractors, will switch to a 2:3 cycle in the second quarter of next year.
Many North Sea operators and contractors adopted 3:3 rotas during the downturn in a bid to lower costs.
The trend was condemned by unions, which warned that spending three weeks at a time offshore, instead of two, would have dire safety implications.
A leaked report by a safety representative on Shell’s Shearwater platform – seen by The Press and Journal in March – said the rotas had left workers’ partners “struggling with home life”, with some even being diagnosed with depression.
Problems at home were also resulting in crew members being “distracted and not fully focused on the job at hand”, the report said.
Shell said in May that it would consider changing rotas, while a consultative ballot of contractors organised by the Unite trade union showed strong support for industrial action if changes were not made.
Unite launched its ballot at the end of April, around the same time that Robert Gordon University (RGU) published a report saying workers on three-week rotas were nearly twice as likely to experience ill health as those spending two weeks offshore.
Shell said it would not implement the new operating model on its Brent Alpha or Bravo platforms, which are due to be down-manned next year as decommissioning work continues.
The Brent Charlie platform will move to the new rota, however.
Unite regional officer John Boland recently said 3:3 rotas were hated by offshore workers.
He said yesterday: “It’s good that Shell has listened to us and its own workers.”