A UK Government minister was under fire last night for refusing to meet the widows of the oil workers who died in the 2013 Super Puma crash.
Labour MP Frank Doran said he was “extremely disappointed” Transport Secretary Patrick McLoughlin had declined an invitation to meet families and the survivors who were on-board the doomed flight.
Sarah Darnley, 45, from Elgin, Gary McCrossan, 59, from Inverness, George Allison, 57, from Winchester and Duncan Munro, 46, from Bishop Auckland died when the aircraft plunged into the sea near Sumburgh in Shetland in August last year.
An offshore worker has been airlifted to hospital after being hit on the head by a falling object.
The 57-year-old man was working on the Murchison platform, about 123 miles north-east of Shetland, when he was reportedly hit on the head by a falling pipe or hose.
Shetland Coastguard sent a rescue helicopter to the platform, and he was airlifted to Gilbert Bain Hospital in Lerwick.
Two oil workers have been killed in an explosion and fire at an oil rig in Oklahoma.
Another two members of staff have also been critically injured.
Authorities said the explosion happened at the rig about two miles west of Coalgate, about 100 miles south east of Oklahoma city.
BP has been denied a request by Norway’s oil safety watchdog to extend the lifetime of the QP platform at the Valhall field.
The platform provides living quarters for workers however safety concerns have been raised by the PSA.
A ruling that obesity can be classed as a disability will cause “confusion” and may open a “can of worms”, it was claimed yesterday.
Politicians and business chiefs were divided over the consequences of the European Court of Justice judgment on the case of 25-stone Danish child-minder Karsten Kaltoft.
Dame Anne Begg, Labour MP for Aberdeen South and chairwoman of Westminster’s work and pensions committee, said: “It’s difficult to tell what the impact will be.
Oil and gas firms may have to charter boats or hire bigger helicopters to accommodate overweight workers after the European Court of Justice (ECJ) decided obese people can be classed as disabled.
Businesses are being warned to expect widespread and expensive consequences after law chiefs in Luxembourg ruled that being overweight qualifies as a disability.
The judgment follows the sacking of Karsten Kaltoft, a 25-stone childminder from Denmark.
Talisman Sinopec has started transferring workers back to a North Sea platform after it was evacuated ahead of a severe winter storm.
Staff had been taken from the installation back to Aberdeen.
A spokeswoman said 33 staff were making their way back to the platform, although production has not yet resumed.
An offshore helicopter was forced to return back to shore after a passenger became unwell.
The Bond S-92 was heading to the Balmoral Platform when an emergency call was issue around 9am.
A spokeswoman for Bond confirmed the helicopter was diverted.
Safety checks have been ordered on Super Puma helicopters after it was warned cabin doors could jam shut in an emergency.
The airworthiness directive, issued by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA), was given for the Airbus AS332 and EC225 aircraft.
Operators will now have to carry out an inspection within three months for aircraft more than a year old and within the next 15 months for more recent models.
The UK Government has rejected a call from MPs for an independent study into North Sea helicopter safety.
Louise Ellman, the chairwoman of the transport select committee at Westminster, wrote to ministers last month asking them to order research assessing any safety improvements and on-going issues in the sector.
The move followed the publication of the committee’s report into a series of recent helicopter crashes in the North Sea.
Talisman is set to ban the use of e-cigarettes from its North Sea platforms after one overheated while it was charging.
The company said the ban will take effect from Sunday.
An Aberdeenshire firm has designed new technology for testing offshore fire sprinkler systems that should prevent glitches caused by existing methods.
Paradigm Flow Services (PFS), part of Netherlands-based investment firm Paradigm Group, has invested £180,000 in the research and development stage of its dryflow technology, which was carried out by academics, software designers and engineers in Aberdeen and Rotterdam over the past 18 months.
Conventional tests use large volumes of seawater, often leading to blockages and corrosion inside nozzles and pipework.
Leading conservation organisations are calling for a ban on mining and exploration for oil and gas in World Heritage Sites.
The organisations, including the Zoological Society of London (ZSL), the RSPB and WWF, warn that growing pressure for resources means that a quarter of natural World Heritage Sites are under threat from commercial mining and extraction.
World Heritage Sites such as Virunga National Park, home of the critically endangered mountain gorilla in the Democratic Republic of Congo, the Virgin Komi forests in Russia and the Belize Barrier Reef System are all under threat from exploitation, the groups said.
One worker has been killed and two seriously injured in a fracking accident at an oil or gas well site in northern Colorado.
Three men were trying to heat a frozen high-pressure water line when something went wrong and the line ruptured.
A deal has been struck been struck at the China International Diving, Salvage and Offshore Summit for a new Cooperation Framework Agreement.
It was signed by the International Marine Contractors Association (ICMA), the Association of Diving Contractors International (ACDI), and the China Diving and Salvage Contractors Association (CDSA).
A special commission has been set up by Azerbaijan’s state owned oil company SOCAR, after three workers were killed in an accident at an oil and gas platform in the Caspian Sea.
A statement from SOCAR said structures had collapsed during repair works after a wagon-house fell into the sea and caused a fire.
A helicopter with seven people on board was forced to make an emergency landing in Shetland yesterday.
A full scale emergency was declared at Sumburgh Airport, and the emergency services were called to the busy airport.
North Sea oil workers who have returned from a country affected by the deadly Ebola virus have been advised to stay away from UK offshore installations for at least 21 days, according to new industry guidelines.
Oil workers are set to return to a North Sea platform evacuated after a cargo vessel carrying cargo waste began drifting towards it.
The Denmark-registered Parida, which was carrying a cargo of radioactive waste from Scrabster to Antwerp, lost engine power after a fire broke out in one of her funnels at about 8pm on Monday.
Calls have been made for a safety review after a blaze on a cargo ship carrying radioactive waste forced the evacuation of a North Sea oil platform.
The Danish ship, MV Parida, suffered a fire in one of its funnels on Tuesday evening and the crew shut down the engines as they tried to carry out repairs.
Oil workers had to be evacuated from a platform in the North Sea after a cargo vessel carrying radioactive waste began drifting towards it.
The Denmark-registered Parida, which was carrying a cargo of radioactive concrete waste from Scrabster to Antwerp, lost engine power after a fire broke out in one of her funnels at about 8pm on Monday.
