3207 Guidelines for the medical aspects of work for the onshore oil industry

Overview:

Medical standards are an important part of the oil industry’s philosophy to maintain a safe working environment where individuals are able to function safely and effectively without risk to the plant, environment or others.

These guidelines aim to define best practice in the individual assessment of workers in onshore oil facilities including refineries, storage depots and terminals. They should be used by medical practitioners to enable consistent evaluation and decision making regarding fitness to work.

The methodology used in these guidelines reflects the current move away from prescriptive exclusion of specific conditions to the more holistic evaluation of a focused risk assessment for the individual, their capability and health status. It is expected that any qualified occupational health practitioner should be able to undertake the medical evaluation using this guidance.

These guidelines were compiled and published by the EI’s Health Technical Committee to benefit the onshore workforce as existing standards were aimed at offshore workers. It will be of interest to medical practitioner’s in the onshore oil industry.