Gas which may cause cancer on Heimdal platform

Oil workers on the Heimdal platform must use full protective gear at work. Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB scanpix

Excessive emissions of the carcinogen benzene gas, a gas which may cause cancer, means that oil workers on the Heimdal platform have use full protective gear at work.

Of a total of 90 employees, there are fewer than ten people who are exposed to the hazardous gas,  Stavanger Aftenblad writes.
Drilling personnel from Archer who are on an assignment from Statoil where they are working on the maintenance work taking place in the drilling module,  are the ones who are exposed to benzene. They have to use full protective gear at work.
– In the area of ​​the drilling module you have to work with protective equipment. And in some areas, we do not work at all because the values ​​of benzene are too high, head of information  in Statoil Morten Eek says.
Some employees are also sent to shore because they can not perform their work before the leak is sealed.
PSA has been informed about the incident and is satisfied with the measures Statoil has implemented to protect the crew of the platform.
– We are working to lead the gas away from the platform in a piping system and away to the flare area, says Eek and emphasizes that the work should be completed shortly.
A doctoral thesis from 2015 indicated an correlation between benzene exposure in the work environment on oil platforms in the North Sea and the risk of lymphatic and hematopoietic cancer.

 

Source: NTB scanpix / Norway Today