Fitness standards could boost personal safety for oil workers

Workers in the oil industry could have their personal safety protected through a new voluntary guide to fitness published by the Energy Institute.

In an article for Mondaq, Jan Burgess, Claire Kent and Thomas Herd of law firm CMS Cameron McKenna suggest that fitness tests could become an important element in ensuring personal safety once the default retirement age is removed in manual industries.

"Any such assessment would have to be objectively justified and the resulting employment situation carefully managed," they add.

The activities covered by the fitness guidance include heavy lifting, hose-pulling, survival and evacuation scenarios, climbing ladders and operating valves.

Meanwhile, the Energy Institute suggests there are numerous benefits to be derived from the use of fitness standards.

These include reducing risks presented to the employer due to both the economic damage of having injured employees and the human impact of individuals suffering an episode of pain or disability.