The safety representative under pressure. A study of occupational health and safety management in the Norwegian oil and gas industry

The paper examines the role of safety representatives in modern working life. The main objective is to investigate the operational conditions for the employees' influence on occupational health and safety (OHS) matters as reflected in the opinions and assessments of the safety representatives themselves and by their corresponding managers. A theoretical framework and a literature overview are established in order to link the results from the actual study to a broader context of participative approaches to health and safety management. Information is collected from the Norwegian offshore oil and gas sector, applying a focus group design, mapping the safety representatives' and managers' attitudes towards their own rights, duties and obligations. The paper reveals a huge gap in opinions and understanding between the two major parties. The employers rely more on the capacity of the formal health and safety management systems, than do the safety representatives who put more emphasis on the need for daily and continuous health and safety consultations. The climate of participation and collaboration is assessed by the safety representatives as being less conducive to the overall objectives of the health and safety regulations than perceived by the managers. The results also demonstrate a lack of consistency between identified problems in the role of safety representatives and proposed measures of improvements in their role and functions. The distance between the parties in their view on the safety representative's role and position must be taken seriously, and could in itself be a threat to safety. In this case a close dialogue between the parties is needed. Mutual understanding and acceptance of the safety representative's contribution to safety performance are fundamental for mutual trust and constructive collaboration between the parties.