A leading industry body has revealed suspected Covid-19 cases offshore have continued to fall due to “effective industry-wide measures”.
Oil and Gas UK confirmed the number of Category C flights, which covers the medevac of a patient with non-life threatening symptoms, made up just 0.03% of the total number of people on offshore installations at the end of last week.
The figures come ahead of an OGUK webinar later this week, which will reflect on lessons learnt from the coronavirus pandemic.
The event, which is entitled ‘Covid-19: A retrospective and look ahead’, will bring together a panel of experts to outline their experiences of the pandemic and its impact.
Trevor Stapleton, OGUK’s health, safety and environment director, said: “The reduction in c-med flights is a recognition of both industry-imposed barriers and UK measures being effective.
“As we move into the recovery phase – which will mean increasing POB offshore – a missing piece of the jigsaw is still asymptomatic testing for our offshore workforce, carried out using the NHS UK test centres and we continue to make the case for this with both the UK and Scottish governments.
“It is worth noting that a Cat-C passenger is only symptomatic of Covid-19 and may not be a positive case, therefore the percentage figure is the worst-case scenario.
“However, now is not the time for us to become complacent and we will be paying close attention to the figures going forward.
“The coronavirus pandemic is of a scale and severity which none of us have seen before, but we shouldn’t take for granted the true value of the UK’s offshore oil and gas industry’s culture of safety.”
The webinar will also look ahead to the rest of the year to consider what steps can be taken in terms of navigating the operational impact of COVID-19, preparations for winter flu season and the foreseen impacts.
Mr Stapleton added: “The open and continuous sharing of our experiences within our industry, with other sectors and with government, will be critical as we look to the future. While we must now start working on how to bring this essential industry back on its feet, we must also take the time to learn and reflect.
“The upcoming webinar will give an opportunity to understand potential future risks and how this could impact business and allow us to further improve workforce safety and engagement.”
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