Evaluation of Workers Participation in Risk Assessment of Underwater Operations in the Oil and Gas Industry

Abstract

The offshore oil and gas industry performs risky operations leading to high incident rates requiring the need for risk assessment which is a critical component for maintaining safety. This study, therefore, was aimed at evaluating the participation of workers in carrying out risk assessment and whether the type of company they work for influences their participation in risk assessment. A cross-sectional design was utilized in carrying out this research in the Niger Delta. 401 employees of the Multinational and National oil and gas industries who carryout underwater operations responded to the Survey questionnaire. The data collected were analyzed for descriptive statistics, and cross-tabulation using XLSTAT Ver. 17 and SPSS Ver. 22. The result showed that significant relationship exists between participation in risk assessment and gender, years of work experience, and educational status at P-values ≤0.005. In addition, the research showed that there is no significant difference between the participation in risk assessment among employees of Multinational and National oil and gas companies. It is recommended that organizations should ensure a mix of the workers groups studied when setting up Risk Assessment Teams to ensure a balanced risk assessment that when implemented will deliver on the intent of the activity.