The UK oil and as industry has recently criticized authorities for refusing to provide the means for COVID-19 testing on offshore platforms.
This comes in light of the recent death of 227 oil workers at Petroleos Mexicanos, the highest toll of any company worldwide.
Currently, anyone in the UK can get tested for the coronavirus if they have symptoms, but asymptomatic tests are only available for front-line workers in the National Heath Service, according to Bloomberg.
As such, the industry has been pushing for a policy change since early July, when Deirdre Michie, CEO of Oil and Gas UK, issued a “plea” for blanket testing of offshore workers at a hearing in parliament.
The UK is reliant on the North Sea for domestic energy supply, so the personnel that produce it are “absolutely critical,” said the RMT’s Molloy, so they should be included in the Department for Health‘s pilot study in which people whose job puts them at high risk of infection, such as shop workers and taxi drivers, receive tests without having symptoms, he said.
