Page 56 - Danish Offshore Industry 2015

ESVAGT FOCUSING ON HEALTH For ESVAGT a close cooperation with doctor Sanne Sanne Knutzen has specialized in focusing on life Knutzen is one of the ways of ensuring that their crews style diseases among offshore personnel. are always ft for fght. Naturally, to a frm like the standby/rescue vessel company ESVAGT its employees are the key resource, a helicopter in case of evacuation, and you may even risk so it has been decided to enter into a cooperation with blocking the way for your fellow passengers. It makes medical doctor Sanne Knutzen to fnd out how to opti- life and the physically demanding work much easier mize and ensure a long-term preservation of the health if you maintain a strong and ft body. We do not talk of these employees. about being a ftness fanatic, but the older we grow the “It is of utmost importance to us that we have more diffcult it is to preserve our muscles and maintain healthy and ft employees with a minimal absence from a stable weight,” refects Sanne Knutzen observing how work, and if we can obtain such advantages by cooperat- many companies introduce new requirements to their ing with a medical doctor who looks at life offshore from offshore crews. a different angle, we are only more than pleased. We “These years requirements for a good health are would like to go one step further by mitigating illness increased for personnel working offshore. Norway has and offering more specialized health checks focusing on introduced a BMI (Body Mass Index) limit, the UK has introduced requirements to their lung function, and in Sweden you have to pass a ftness test if you want to work with wind turbines. The risk of dropping dead is always higher if you are overweight or a smoker and if a person suddenly falls ill it may result in a dangerous situation to his teammates,” points out Sanne Knutzen who has started up cooperation with the standby/rescue company ESVAGT. IT IS OF UTMOST “I am offering all seagoing employees of the com- IMPORTANCE TO pany an extended health check focusing on restrictions when moving arms and legs and I calculate the individual US THAT WE HAVE risk in case of “smoker-lungs”, blood clots and diabetes. After being tested the employee if desired may get an HEALTHY AND FIT individual follow-up focusing on specifc areas. Further- EMPLOYEES WITH A more, we have taken a look at the employees’ absence due to illness. It is very low, but still split up into three MINIMAL ABSENCE main categories which we address in order to mitigate the risk,” explains Sanne Knutzen who is of the opinion FROM WORK that it is relatively easy to achieve major improvements. “We know that men rarely see a doctor, so this initia- tive is a unique opportunity of spotting an illness and lifestyle and staying in the job, so we have integrated providing the employee with suffcient time to discuss these subjects in our training program,” explains Nick Ør- any worries about health. It is my job to explain to them skov, Head of People & HR at ESVAGT, who has seen the that if they continue their chosen life style they may not employees of the company welcome the new initiative. be able to pass the stated requirements to their health, “By now, some 100 of our employees have been and then their time offshore will come to an end. I through an extended check focusing on health and train- prefer the carrot from the stick when it comes to imple- ing of body muscles, and they have all been positive. menting the changes. Sanne among other things has given a lecture at our “When talking safety we tell people to hold on to the offcers’ seminars and we use her concept as an offer to hand rail, wear a hardhat, safety glasses etc., but when our employees, indicating to them, that we would like it comes to health we here in Denmark have a tradition to hold on to them for as long as possible,” explains Nick for motivating which I suggest we stick to. I hope that Ørskov who feels that such an initiative will turn out to the data we are compiling will contribute to illuminat- be a great advantage to ESVAGT. The latest initiative ing where and how we can best aim our efforts so that deriving from the cooperation with Sanne Knutzen is a we can hold on to our valuable employees for a longer training video meant to inspire the crews onboard the period.” company’s vessels in their daily training. 56 / FIGHTING A DANGEROUS LIFESTYLE