If amongst other options you are seriously considering getting a job offshore on an oil rig or a offshore marine job on a standby or supply vessel then you have to look at these as a basic guide to just get started.

 

Firstly you need to obtain proper offshore survival training, Basic Safety Induction & Emergency Training (BOSIET). This is a breakdown of what’s involved for work in Europe. Although I have worked throughout the world the compulsory training I have done in Scotland has been sufficient if not more stringent than what’s legally required for work elsewhere in the world. Below is a breakdown of the (BOSIET) 

 

 

1)   A briefing about the offshore industry

2)   Helicopter escape training

3)   Personal survival training

4)   The use of Totally Enclosed Motor Propelled Survival Craft or lifeboats   

      (TEMPSCs) and liferafts                         

5)   Post escape first aid

6)   Fire fighting (the use of basic extinguishers and self-rescue breathing

       apparatus)

7)   Permit to work system

8)   Emergency Breathing Systems (EBS)

 

The above training costs about £600 UK Pounds for 3 days training in addition you’ll need to pass a medical which costs around £100 also. The (BOSIET) lasts 4 years and the medical 2 years.

 

If you plan on working offshore in the Norwegian sector of the North Sea you need to do a 5 day course (The Norwegian Oil Industry Association (OLF) course. If you are planning on work in the USA I think their equivalent course is very similar.

 

So now you can legally go offshore in most places around the world but you need to find a particular job offshore, maybe transferring skills you already have or starting at the bottom making beds or labouring. Or you can spend allot more money getting qualified in other skills to help you get into a better position which again is going to cost.

 

Do some research on offshore oil rig jobs in your location and get an idea of the costs involved.

 

 Another thing worth mentioning is that you have to be of a particular mind set to fit in well working offshore. You’re stuck in a controlled environment for your whole trip which could be a month or in worst cases longer. You can’t jump in your car at the end of a hard day and switch off from work, u breathe eat and sleep it!

You have to be comfortable sharing a room with a stranger and dealing with very little privacy . On most oil rigs in Europe it’s a minimum of 2 man cabins but in some countries 4 man minimum is not uncommon. A lot of oil rigs and ships have communal toilets and showers also so no on suite!

 

From the moment you wake until the moment you go to sleep it’s in your face on your mind. Even when you’re asleep it’s not uncommon to be below a working area where there is constant noise of machinery or night/day shift personnel. Particularly if you’re a sub contractor as you’re guaranteed to get the worse accommodation they have. Core crew getting the better of bad. Then there is the not uncommon alarm activation in the middle of the night when you must get of bed and got to your muster station dressed with your life jacket on, a lot of the time it’s a false alarm but not always.

 

 

 

 

Any how that s enough for now, I don’t want to be to critical of offshore work just give a true and accurate observation of it through my experience offshore and to simply ask that before deciding on it as a career path that you look at the following as an option which is a much more better freer way to make money and live.

http://www.personalandcareerdevelopment.com