Abstract The Frigg Field, is an offshore oil and gas production complex in the North Sea, lying on the boundary between Norway and the UK. Since the start-up of the field in 1977, the operator of the field, Elf Norge has believed in workforce involvement and has actively facilitated this process. Over the years, Elf has provided for full-time salaried employee representatives to deal with union and safety, health and welfare matters, which has enabled the operator to keep an open dialogue with it's employees.
It is important to mention, that on only a very, very few occasions, over more than twenty years of operation, the daily nomination of gas production for the customer, has not been met.
From the start of the decline of the Frigg Field in the late eighties, workforce involvement was seen as an important issue when it came to achieving the best results for the future, for both the operator and for the employees involved. Re-organization and down-manning projects have actively used workforce representatives as a valuable resource to produce the best solutions.
This paper will attempt to show how the active involvement of the workforce during the life of an offshore installation has benefited both the operator and the employees in areas such as safety related matters, flexibility of operations and personnel and cost reduction.
Introduction In 1977, when the Frigg Field first started production, Norway introduced legislation relating to worker protection and working environment issues. The objective of the legislation was to secure a working environment which provided employees with full safety against harmful physical and mental influences, to secure sound employment conditions and a meaningful work situation for individuals. In addition, the legislation provided a basis for the enterprises themselves to solve working environment problems in co-operation with the organizations of employers and employees, with control and guidance from the public authorities.
The legislation gave duties to employers and employees alike with respect to working environment matters and required safety delegates to be elected from the employees to safeguard the interests of the workforce in matters relating to the working environment, which included their safety, health and welfare. At enterprises where there was more than one safety delegate, at least one senior safety delegate had to be elected to co-ordinate the working environment activities.
The legislation introduced in 1977, also gave the possibility of a formal link between employee's organizations, the unions, and the appointment of safety delegates. In any enterprise, covered by the legislation, if more than half of the employees were members of a union, the safety delegates can be appointed by that union. In practice, the members of a union will elect their own representatives, the shop stewards, and these shop stewards will in most cases become their safety delegates. The union representatives will have two tasks, one representing the interests of union members towards the employer and one representing the employees in matters of safety, health and welfare.
So from the outset of production on the Frigg Field, the stage was set for having workforce involvement.