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15 October, 2010
Responding to the European Commission’s recommendation that member states should consider suspending offshore licensing in advance of possible new EU-wide safety standards, Norrie McVicar, Chair of the ITF’s Offshore Task Force Group (OTFG), said: “This is the wrong position to take and the wrong time to take it. The EC should be protecting the safety gains made in the UK offshore sector, not eroding them by dumbing them down to a lowest common denominator.”
Lars Myhre, ICEM Energy Sector Chair, added: “You can never be too safe and we would never condone complacency, but the British and Norwegian sectors are generally good examples of best practice. They should be studied, learned from and, where necessary, improved. They shouldn’t be remodeled into a one size fits all – but not very well – Euro model.”
McVicar also stated: “One very positive feature of the UK industry is OSPRA, the Oil Spill Prevention and Response Advisory Group, which brings together regulators, industry bodies and trade unions such as Unite and the RMT in a joint effort to ensure that we get the oil and gas we need as safely and cleanly as possible. It’s that kind of good practice that we’d like to see adopted by the rest of the global oil and gas sector, not weakened here in Europe.”
For further information, contact:
ITF (International Transport Workers’ Federation)
Press officer, Sam Dawson, Tel: + 44 (0)20 7940 9260, Email: [email protected]
Norrie McVicar, OFTG Chair, Tel: +44(0)7768 652 257, Email: [email protected]
ICEM (International Federation of Chemical, Energy, Mine and General Workers' Unions) Tel: +41-22-304-1847, Email: [email protected]