Offshore Medicine

Medical Care of Employees in the Offshore Oil Industry

Thirty years' close assocIatIOn with the Oil Industry has been a fascinating and stimulating experience; fascinating because the Oil Industry itself is so full of interest and stimulating because of the challenges which changes in technology have brought about. No longer is oil easily obtainable and no longer can oil be found in exotic regions of the globe. On the contrary, if oil is required it is more likely to be found in the bitter Alaskan ice-fields or in the cold depths of the North Sea, where environments are hostile to man and a challenge to technology. Man's own activities in such hostile environments have created new problems and new hazards. The saga of oil exploration and production in the North Sea has been and continues to be written, but little has been recorded of the hazards inflicted on the men who are faced with the task of implementing this new technology. This book is almost a medical history of the North Sea activities and provides information gained by hard won experience to those involved not only in the North Sea but in any offshore oil operation, wherever it may be.