A study by Scott McNabbet covering the years 1988 - 1990 established that "nonfatal work-related injury rates are 49% higher among oil and gas field workers than among workers in all US industries combined, and these injuries are more severe (the rate of lost workdays in the oil and gas field services industry is 2.8 times that of all US industries combined).
The work environments are very diverse. production and maintenance personnel work predominantly within the plant area, while personnel involved in construction, modifications and deck activities frequently work outdoors and are involved in a wider range of tasks.
The majority of injuries in this industry result from explosions, fires, heat exposure, chemical spills, and pollution. However, back injuries and musculoskeletal injuries remain a serious problem in these industries as well.
Refineries are expansive facilities with self-contained work areas and large workforces that operate at high capacity, around the clock. .Due to the often flammable or toxic nature of the products being handled and processed , the physical design of the plant or drilling rigs is often limited and restricted. Process needs preempt any consideration for to human needs. Access to valves and controls is often difficult. Workers often must exert heavy physical force in confined spaces, often needing to bend and stretch their torsos in unnatural and uncomfortable positions to avoid hot pipes or controls that, if tripped, could lead to explosions, fires, or toxic releases.
To add to the challenge, workers in these industries often work in harsh climatic environments such as icy Prudhoe Bay or the stormy North Sea., and the shifts tend to be much longer than in other industries (12 hours), leading to fatigue, which is often a contributing factor to an accident.
The physical forces exerted on these workers are enormous and can expose workers to musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Workers are constantly required to stand for long times in areas with limited footprint space; push and pull; bend or twist/turn from the upper body; reach horizontally, forward and below the waist with hands and arms and have cervical extension, rotation and bending; frequently required to negotiate stairs and ladders; squat; climb and turn the wrist and assume various positions such as sit; kneel; crawl; reach overhead; and pinch with hands. Physical demands are described as very heavy (exert in excess of 100 lbs. of force occasionally, and/or in excess of 50 lbs. of force frequently, and/or in excess of 20 lbs. of force constantly in order to move objects).
Valves, pipes, meters, and other components are engineered to protect public safety and avoid fires or explosions. . However, they are not always designed to make installing, maintaining and replacing them easy and comfortable for workers.
Industry safety programs have certainly changed over the years. Initially safety programs were nothing more than the act of recording the incident, describe the circumstances, and bringing the employee to the infirmary or hospital. But then thirty years ago, when the Japanese appeared to dominate world business and drive western industries into oblivion, the chemical and refinery industries attempted to mimic Japanese companies by having the employees start their work day with stretching and calisthenics exercises. However, these warm up exercises had no effect, and on top of that, in light of rising energy demand and increased costs, companies were not willing to pull workers off a production environment for a period of time. Even if the workers warmed up for 15 minutes, 100 people x 15 minutes, that's represented 25 person hours of lost production.
With no results and the lack of return of investment, these physical were soon abandoned. The major fault with these programs is that they failed to deliver "work hardening" training that taught workers to protect their body from the harm caused by continued bending, stretching, and crouching. However, what remained was the industry's attitude to take a more proactive role into preventing accidents and injuries. The industry implemented various safety programs that reduced the number of injuries resulting from, explosions, burns, and chemical exposure. However, the incidence of back and musculoskeletal injuries remained high, primarily because many of the physical training programs were too generic and did not address the unique environment of oil rigs, chemical plants, and refineries.
PSR®, Professional Safeguard Resources®, for 25 years has specialized in preventing human capital injury losses (primarily back injuries, neck injuries, shoulder injuries, falling injuries) and all types of effort related CTD's (Cumulative Disability Disorders) and MSD's (Musculoskeletal Disorders) in the labor intensive, HRIE (High Risk Injury Employees) workforces.
PSR®'s injury reduction training program is specifically designed for the actual physical, physiological, and psychological demands of the work arena, as well as the true performance needs for each unique work environment, including the gas and electricity industry sectors.
PSR® technologies are a synthesis of western orthopedic practices and Eastern (Asian) bio mechanic and therapeutic sciences. PSR® uniquely establishes a reflexive self strengthening work experience in the most awkward of circumstances. The system matures with minimum follow-up to become part of the workforce culture.
The PSR® slogan is "If the work experience does not make you stronger, and you do not feel it making you stronger, it is breaking you down"©. This is particularly true for a refinery company employee, operator or maintenance, where the work arena has significant limitations to its ergonomic redesign and the 'correct' position of the body is often based primarily on safety factors such as a welder (boiler maker pipe/fitter) welding a straight continuous line around a large diameter pipe requiring going from a crouch to an extended reach, or an operator routinely exercising a valve or in an emergency needing to quickly extricate a fallen employee from a dangerous environment. The body knowledge of how a a leveraged unit body feels requires additional skills..