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What psychosocial factors dominate in mental ill-health and stress among offshore oil & gas workers?

A summary to be posted in the coming weeks explored this in a sample of Australian offshore workers.

No surprises with key findings:

·        Fear of speaking up

·        unsatisfactory company-provided facilities

·        work–life interference

·        work status issues

·        micromanaging

·        gender harassment

·        bullying

·        production and time pressures, and fatigue

I found the discussions around bullying, fear/blame and micromanagement most interesting, given so many participants mentioned these factors.

E.g. food rationing was used by one company, perceived by a participant as a form of control/harassment.

Blame and bullying also manifested in other types of micromanagement. This was seen as a “damaging practice that reveals a lack of trust in workers”.

Many people feared to speak up about issues and hazards – and this was most prevalent among contractors (which supports other research).

Moreover, speaking up about issues were referred by some as being “booking a window seat on the next flight out of here” (p10).

Bravado and macho climates dominated offshore – particularly in areas like drilling, or diving. This led to people fearing to show “any sort of [perceived mental] weakness”.

This “Not speaking up in the context of the macho culture of a male-dominated workplace extends to reluctance to disclose symptoms of sickness” (p5), like with COVID.

Lots more findings – covered in the full open access paper and some in my soon-to-be-posted summary.

Ref: D’Antoine, E., Jansz, J., Barifcani, A., Shaw-Mills, S., Harris, M., & Lagat, C. (2023). Safety, 9(3), 56.

Study link: https://doi.org/10.3390/safety9030056

LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/posts/benhutchinson2_what-psychosocial-factors-dominate-in-mental-activity-7101326981455101952-m5pr?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_desktop