The safety programme as a tool of improvement for safety culture in the workplace: an exploratory follow-up study from the Danish offshore oil and gas sector

Offshore industry has always been a risky working place, and therefore there has always been a strong focus on maintaining the highest safety standards. The present research aims to ascertain the effects of a new safety mindset from both individual employee and organizational angles, and is based on two surveys conducted in 2010 and 2014 on Danish oil production platforms in the North Sea and qualitative data from interviews, observations and documentary analysis. The participating offshore oil company introduced a new safety mindset at the beginning of 2010 to all of their employees and subcontractors. The results indicate that there were some significant, positive changes both in individual employee attitudes towards safety and in strong organizational commitment to work closely with employees to ensure the highest workplace safety status on oil platforms. However, the results also show that it is important to maintain a campaign to ensure these positive effects.