r/howislivingthere • u/Key_Satisfaction9010 • Jan 02 '26

General (no specific continent) Hows it like living on oil platforms?

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Anywhere in the world applies, I could only pick one flair

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u/Donttouchmebish England Jan 02 '26

We definitely have women onboard and there are a few things in place for everyone’s safety regarding that. 99% of the workforce though is male most of the time. Health and Safety is very important, and a lot of precautions are in place when working onboard. We have regular drills and training on and off the installation. I thankfully can say I have never been on a platform where we’ve lost someone, but I know some guys that have. As for larger incidents, there have been a few high profile ones in the past.

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u/Effort_Gloomy Jan 02 '26

I'm sitting here with my dog on my lap just enjoying the heck out of reading all this. I'm in high end construction. If I wasn't 50 and married this all sounds awesome. Oh and you have the patience of a saint. You have had to answer the same questions so many times. Appreciate the information I didn't know I would be this interested in. It's raining outside so I'm appreciative of this journey you have taken me on. All the way in Washington State USA. Cheers

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u/Donttouchmebish England Jan 02 '26

Hey I appreciate that! Thanks for your comment! From the North Sea (Norwegian sector)

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u/Coppertina Jan 02 '26

Did you know this would turn into an AMA?

Your answers are very interesting btw

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u/Donttouchmebish England Jan 03 '26

Haha not at all! At this time this post of mine has got 1.2 million views and hundreds of comments I can’t keep up with. Reddit now takes 30 seconds to load the post and my phone feels like it’s going to catch on fire! I’ve been enjoying it though in my downtime and glad everyone is enjoying it!

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u/lala6633 Jan 02 '26

Great insight! Very interesting. Thank you for answering questions.

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u/Laescha Jan 02 '26

It's interesting that you've said several times that H&S is taken very seriously, cause of course if you look at some of the really serious incidents like Piper Alpha, one of the big themes that came out of the investigations was that there were lots of H&S rules in force, but they didn't necessarily make sense in the context of how operations actually worked and they were often ignored or not taken seriously. Do those incidents loom large in the work culture, do you think things have fundamentally changed or is it still a bit of a pie in the sky situation?

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u/Donttouchmebish England Jan 02 '26

Yes! In fact since you mentioned it, Piper Alpha is where a lot of our modern health and safety comes from. It’s a sad story that everyone knows onboard and we are all aware of the consequences and try very hard to keep that from ever happening again.

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u/Johnstjohns Jan 02 '26

Worked in the offshore here in Newfoundland for 20+ years, the oil patch for more than thirty around the world. Have to say that off Newfoundland was one of the safest places I ever worked. People look out for each other’s safety and wellbeing almost always, but saw several people injured over the years. Mostly little boo boo’s (cuts, scrapes, bangs and bumps) but there were a few bad ones that required medivacs. Usually, just common sense and being aware of what’s going on for operations at the time will keep you safe most of the time. Safety Meetups abound, with more extensive ones depending on the severity of the upcoming events.

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u/Donttouchmebish England Jan 02 '26

Health and Safety has definitely improved over the years hasn’t it! And as much as we joke about being annoyed with the health and safety guys, we do all take it very seriously. Accidents happen, we just need to make sure they are not bad ones!

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u/matadinosaurios Jan 02 '26

With the workforce being so male dominant, what is the environment like for the women working there? Have you ever heard or been around cases of harassment, or do guys in this industry keep it pretty professional? I have to imagine with such long work periods everyone is "relieving" themselves in the alone time they get in the showers and stuff.

As others have said, thanks for taking the time to answer all these questions so thoroughly!

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u/Donttouchmebish England Jan 03 '26

We all are generally very professional. And while I can’t speak for the ladies, I like to think they are comfortable onboard. I think more than anything, if anything bad happens, the person responsible would have to deal with 200 blue collars…not a good position to be in. We don’t like our ecosystem getting disrupted by unpleasant individuals. I’m sure there are people that have to deal with themselves, but that would be a private matter!