Job stress, social support, job satisfaction and absenteeism among offshore oil personnel

The major aim of this study was to examine how job stress in the offshore working environment may affect workers experience of strain. This study also analyses both the main and moderator effect of social support on the association between job stress and strain. The association between strain and absenteeism is also analysed. The analyses are based on a self-completion questionnaire survey among employees on offshore oil installations in the Norwegian part of the North Sea (n = 1137). The data collection was carried out in 1994. A similar study was conducted in 1990. Job stress was found to be associated with job dissatisfaction, as well as experience of strain. Social support from a supervisor had a main effect on strain. Some evidence of the moderating effects of social support were found. The employees who had been absent from work experienced most strain. It is concluded that job stress predicted job dissatisfaction and strain. In turn, strain and absenteeism were associated with each other. These results suggest that improving organizational and social factors should be the focal area in health promotion in the offshore oil industry.     

Risk Perception by Offshore Oil Personnel During Bad Weather Conditions

This article presents the results of analyses of employee subjective risk assessments caused by platform movements on an offshore oil installation in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea. The results are based on a self-completion questionnaire survey conducted among 179 respondents covering three shifts on the platform. The data collection was carried out during the spring of 1994. A minority expressed worry due to platform movements. A greater proportion of the personnel stated worry about the construction of the platform. The personnel were more unsafe when they assessed their own safety attitudes with regard to specific potentially hazardous consequences of platform movements. Two approaches aimed at modeling worry and concern caused by platform movements were tested. The models were the mental imagery approach and the rationalistic approach. The rationalistic and mental imagery models fitted equally well. Implications of the results for risk communication are discussed.