UK offshore travel data suggests reduced ‘incidence’ of coronavirus

Offshore staff

ABERDEEN, UK – Passenger movement figures issued by Step Change in Safety and industry association Oil & Gas UK (OGUK) show a decline in suspected coronavirus cases across the UK’s offshore oil and sector.

The data tracks numbers of workers travelling back from offshore duty, with four different categories of transport depending on their status.

According to OGUK, the number of individuals displaying what might be COVID-19 symptoms has fallen from 19 in the week starting March 3, 2020 to eight in the week starting May 4.

However, the industry does not have information as to whether these cases were subsequently confirmed as positive for COVID-19, and it continues to call for an expanded testing capability across the workforce to help prevent the virus reaching offshore platforms.

OGUK HSE Director Trevor Stapleton said: “This apparent reduction is a small move in the right direction, but we can’t stress enough the need to remain alert, to continue to follow protocols and to raise any concerns in both on and offshore working environments.

“OGUK continues to work on a cross industry basis through our Pandemic Steering Group, where our focus remains on increasing testing capacity for our key workers and improving our understanding of how COVID-19 is impacting our sector as we look towards ensuring our industry is able to recover from the significant challenges we are currently faced with.”

05/06/2020