The increasing globalisation of the Oil and Gas industry has resulted in the relocation of large numbers of expatriate workers, often accompanied by dependant families, to geographically, environmentally and culturally unfamiliar locations. In many cases, expatriate assignments are seen by the employee as an affirmation of their value to the company, and/or expatriate choice by the employer is based on recognition of previous high performance. While medical issues are usually well handled, the cultural, social, and family adjustment dynamics of the assignment and impact on the employee and dependants are often considered secondary to the work objectives and deliverables, if they are considered at all. This paper considers several factors critical to the success of an assignment from a health perspective, and the effect these will have on the family and working life. It argues that assignment selection should be an integrated process which examines the suitability of the entire relocating family for the proposed assignment and suggests processes and methodologies to increase the likelihood of completing a successful overseas posting. It lists factors to be considered by the corporate health professional both in terms of the transferee, and in terms of the host country infrastructure. Introduction There remains a general lack of understanding in the broader oil & gas community of the financial and emotional costs to employer and employee respectively of a failed international expatriate assignment. Expatriates are often in critical roles in projects that are costly and time sensitive, and failure of the assignment either through impaired function or through repatriation is disruptive and expensive. Current estimates suggest that a significant number of expatriates may be failing to achieve the objectives of their assignment, or 'walking wounded', while repatriation costs for an employee following a failed assignment can amount to many hundreds of thousands of dollars - and in some cases much more - on a total replacement basis. While many of the direct costs are known, companies rarely total up the cost of assignment failure including travel, housing, personal effects shipments, visas, and HR/admin processing costs, not to mention the difficult-to-quantify costs related to delays/non performance of the work function itself. The costs can be significant: various commentators report assignment costs at over $1million per expatriate assignee for a typical assignment 1. While there is an increasing recognition of critical issues and emerging best practice on this issue within the health community, there appears to be less understanding of the business costs of failed assignments, in part because expatriate assignments are sometimes handled in a non-integrated way, which would not be acceptable in, for example, a major engineering project. In a 2003 PriceWaterhouse Coopers - Human Resource Services survey 2, 42% of respondents were unable to quantify the costs of their expatriate assignments. As the authors commented: "simply put, the real total cost of an assignment is hard to capture, but once it is captured, it can be surprisingly high". This is reflected in a lack formal guidance on the topic, which in many organizations cuts across both medical and HR functions. While Health professionals have almost always been involved in the medical aspects of expatriate assignment processing, they can and should play a wider role in the process. This paper is based on the unpublished work 3 and individual experiences of members of the joint health committee of the International Oil and Gas Producers association (OGP) and the International Petroleum Industry Environmental Conservation Association (IPIECA) who between them have many years of experience in the management of health in international assignments.
Introduction Work-related mental illnesses are becoming one of the major causes of occupational illness and work years lost. Exposure to stressors can be both work-related and non-work related. The Oil & Gas Health Committee of OGP/IPIECA has decided to issue a brouchure on this subject. Definitions The term "Stress" will be used as the overall description of the subject. The term "Stressor" is used to label pressures or demands that are known to have the ability to cause distress. The term "Distress" is used to label a set of bodily, behavioral, and emotional reactions in response to issues or events that we perceive as challenging or dangerous. Origins of distress Distress resulting from non work-related causes is quite common and will have an impact in the workplace. Conversely, distress resulting from work related causes will have an impact at home. Stressors are ubiquitous across every facet of our lives and it is difficult to isolate one group without recognizing and accounting for the others. Stressors are interactive and interdependent and this is an important fact that needs to be recognized. Within any occupation there may be a multitude of stressors and each employee will respond in a different way to these stressors. Examples of some main work related stressors:lack of controltime/deadline pressurepoor relationshipsexcessive travellack of consultation/communicationwork overloadunderstaffingorganizational changethreat of redundancy The effects of stressors Distress is frequently related to an imbalance between the pressures being exerted and the resources of the individual. When pressures and demands rise, the way individuals think, feel and behave is altered. As a result, changes in physiological functions occur and if unresolved can lead to health problems. However, people tend to perform better when under a moderate amount of demands or pressure The signs of distress Many of the outward signs of distress in individuals should be noticeable to managers and colleagues although in some cases the signs will not be obvious. Look in particular for changes in a person's behaviour, such as deteriorating relationships with colleagues, irritability, indecisiveness, absenteeism or reduced performance. Prevention Most of the things that can be done to prevent distress are a product of good management. Basically, one should be looking out for pressures that could negatively impact people and then intervene to ensure people are not harmed. Educate yourself on what causes distress in the workplace and actively work to minimize those things within your control.
Seafaring, work in the offshore energy sector, and commercial diving share a number of common features that are relevant to the assessment of fitness to work. Physically and mentally demanding tasks, many of which are considered safety critical, are performed, often in an unforgiving environment. Workplaces are commonly remote from onshore health and emergency services, necessitating the provision of emergency medical and incident (including fire) response on site. Employees must be trained and physically and mentally capable of performing these rare but demanding roles. The risks from a serious injury or illness are raised by the lack of full medical care facilities.
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