OILC is a campaigning organisation. That is to say, by whatever means necessary (and legal), the legitimate interests of our members will be promoted with utmost vigour and at every appropriate opportunity.

Our effectiveness at industrial tribunal, compensation litigation, provision of quality information to the media, provision of quality services to our members and their families etc., can be judged from material elsewhere on this website. This, our Position Papers page, offers a sample variety of submissions made by OILC to regulatory authorities, papers and speeches to numerous conferences, statements of principles etc. The information herein is provided for your information and may be reproduced subject to only one condition - that you acknowledge the source.

OILC, as one outside observer said, "consistently punches above its weight". Certainly, in terms of the use of 'intellectual' weapons - quality of argument based on analysis and sound research - it has no competitor in representing the interests of the UK offshore workforce (perhaps we are prepared to concede that, occasionally, the Manufacturing, Science and Finance Union impresses). The intention is to place on this website the entire OILC archive dating from late 1988 to the present time - well in excess of half a million words! In the meantime we hope you find the few offerings below worth the read. Thanks for your interest and do feel free to comment using the 'Contact Page' on this web site.

The Working Time Directive and the Offshore Worker. Everything you will ever need to know!
	Published in the Autumn of 1997, this 20,000 word analysis covers a range of issues around the European Commission's White Paper on Sectors and Activities Excluded from the Working Time Directive. The European Commission originally intended that the Working Time Directive apply to all sectors and activities (including the offshore oil and gas industry) in all Member States by 23 November 1996. Initially excluded, however, were activities in which employees were classed as "mobile": air, rail, road, sea, inland waterways and lake transport, sea fishing, doctors in training and "other work at sea" (OWS - the offshore oil and gas industry). This OILC information/discussion document is still very much relevant today, particularly for those interested in the minutiae of this important directive. back to top
The OILC Submission to the European Commission Review Group for the Working Time Directive
	Given the nature of the work in these excluded sectors the Commission always intended to implement separate measures. The White Paper invited proposals on how this might be achieved. The OILC submission in support of the directive's application offshore was lodged with the Commission in October 1997. back to top
'Safety Culture - Myth or Reality'
	This paper, presented to the Offshore Safety Management Conference, Aberdeen, 29th September 1997, looks at the current vogue for "safety culture". Are we misusing an already much-abused term? back to top
'Safety Auditing From Below'
	A paper presented to the Conference on Human Factors in Offshore Safety, 27th September 1994. back to top
'The Case for a Collective Voice'
	A paper presented to the conference on Offshore Safety in a Cost Conscious Environment From British and Norwegian Perspectives (phew!). This conference was a joint OILC/OFS (the Norwegian Offshore Workers Federation) held in Stavanger November 1994. The paper reflects on the history and current state (as it was then) of the trade union presence on the UKCS. Have matters improved? Judge for yourself. back to top
OILC Submission to the HSE on PFEER
	Or, to give it its complete title 'Submission to the Health and Safety Executive on the Draft Offshore Installations (Prevention of Fire, Explosion and Emergency Response) Regulations and Approved Code of Practice, December 3rd 1993. back to top
Workforce Involvement
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Involvement V Fantasy
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TUPE Hi-jacked: A story of betrayal
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