Background
Offshore operations are carried out on remote platforms in hazardous marine and industrial environments. Offshore workers work 12 hours a day for fourteen consecutive days, followed by fourteen days off work. The physical properties of the platforms (e.g. noise and motion levels) and the social factors of the job (e.g., being away from home) add to the uniqueness of the offshore work environment. In the Dutch offshore environment, it is still common to retire about 10 years before the official retirement age. A possible reason is that most offshore workers execute highly demanding physical work, which poses additional risks on workers’ safety and health making them more prone to retire early. |
Method
Qualitative study
Participants and procedures
Analyses
Quantitative study
Participants and procedures
Measurements
Socio-demographics, health behaviour, job characteristics and food
Ageing and human resource
Work ability and work functioning
Offshore environment
Health status and sickness absence
Chronotype
Need for recovery and dips
Fatigue
Work family conflict
Analysis
Results
Interviews and focus-groups
Characteristics of the offshore population
Characteristics of offshore work
Healthy ageing @ work offshore
Health and health behaviour
Future HA@W programs
HA@work questionnaire
Sample characteristics
Total | <45 years | 45–54 years | ≥55 years | Difference | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
N = 260 |
N = 127 (50 %) |
N = 81 (32 %) |
N = 47 (18 %) |
p-values | |
Age, years mean (sd) | 44.14 (10.7) | 35.14 (6.7)ab
| 49.89 (2.6)ac
| 58.55 (2.5)bc
| .000 |
Function, years mean (sd) | 11.26 (10.2) | 7.05 (6.5)ab
| 13.22 (10.3)ac
| 19.83 (11.9)bc
| .000 |
Work Offshore, years mean (sd) | 11.3 (9.8) | 5.7 (5.2)ab
| 14.02 (9.1)ac
| 22.3 (9.5)bc
| .000 |
Number of children, N (%) | 1.69 (1.3) | 1.24 (1.2)ab
| 2.09 (1.2)a
| 2.23 (1.1)b
| .000 |
BMI, mean (sd) | 27.01 (3.7) | 26.29 (3.7)b
| 27.36 (3.3) | 28.6 (3.6)b
| .001 |
Gender (Male) N (%) | 251 (97.3) | 120 (95.2) | 80 (98.8) | 47 (100) | .141 |
Education, N (%) | .054 | ||||
Low | 63 (24.5) | 27 (21.4) | 24 (30.0) | 12 (25.5) | − |
Middle | 137 (53.3) | 73 (57.9) | 39 (48.8) | 23 (48.9) | − |
High | 53 (20.6) | 26 (20.6) | 13 (16.3) | 12 (25.5) | − |
Other | 4 (1.6) | − | − | − | − |
Divorced (Yes) | 56 (21.7) | 14 (11.1)ab
| 26 (32.1)a
| 15 (31.9)b
| .000 |
Family situation, N (%) | .005 | ||||
Married without kids at home | 74 (28.7) | 32 (25.4) | 17 (21.0) | 25 (53.2) | − |
Married with kids at home | 129 (50) | 63 (50) | 44 (54.3) | 18 (38.3) | − |
Single parent | 13 (5) | 5 (4.0) | 6 (7.4) | 2 (4.3) | − |
Single | 32 (12.4) | 21 (16.7) | 9 (11.1) | 2 (4.3) | − |
Other | 10 (3.9) | 5 (4) | 5 (6.2) | − | − |
WFC*, mean (sd) | 1.73 (.6) | 1.78 (.6) | 1.70 (.5) | 1.64 (.5) | .308 |
Shift work, N (%) |
a
|
a
| .035 | ||
No | 176 (68.2) | 76 (60.8) | 60 (74.1) | 37 (78.7) | − |
Yes, regularly | 54 (20.9) | 35 (28) | 10 (12.3) | 7 (14.9) | − |
Yes, sometimes | 28 (10.9) | 14 (11.2) | 11 (13.6) | 3 (6.4) | − |
Day tripper, N (%) | .646 | ||||
No | 190 (74.5) | 90 (73.2) | 58 (72.5) | 40 (85.1) | − |
Yes, regularly | 30 (11.8) | 14 (11.4) | 11 (13.8) | 3 (6.4) | − |
Yes, sometimes | 34 (13.3) | 18 (14.6) | 11 (13.8) | 4 (8.5) | − |
Age | NFR | CIS | BMI | SWB | WAI | N | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Age | ____ | 255 | |||||
NFR | −.02 | ____ | 246 | ||||
CIS-8 | .09 | −.33** | ____ | 244 | |||
BMI | .34** | −.12 | .09 | ____ | 249 | ||
SWB | .22** | .22** | −.11 | .11 | ____ | 253 | |
WAI | −.17** | −.17** | .15* | −.12 | −.48** | ____ | 248 |
Health status, health behaviours and sickness absence
Total | <45 years | 45–54 years | ≥55 years | Difference p-values | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
SF-12* single item, N (%) |
ab
|
a
|
b
| .005 | |
Excellent | 40 (15.6) | 21 (16.7) | 13 (16.3) | 6 (12.8) | − |
Very Good | 92 (35.8) | 60 (47.6) | 17 (21.3) | 13 (40.4) | − |
Good | 120 (46.7) | 45 (35.7) | 49 (61.3) | 25 (53.2) | − |
Fair | 5 (1.9) | − | 1 (1.3) | 3 (6.4) | − |
SF-12 MCS, mean (sd) | 54.48 (5.66) | 54.1 (5.75) | 54.36 (5.44) | 55.74 (5.44) | .367 |
SF-12 PCS, mean (sd) | 52.91 (4.74) | 53.85 (3.6)a
| 52.63 (4.24) | 51.23 (7.06)a
| .013 |
Sickness absence, N (%) | .630 | ||||
0 Days | 187 (73.3) | 90 (71.4) | 60 (75.9) | 35 (76.1) | − |
1–9 Days | 54 (21.2) | 29 (23.0) | 13 (16.5) | 10 (21.7) | − |
10–24 Days | 6 (2.4) | 2 (1.6) | 4 (5.1) | 1 (2.2) | − |
25–99 Days | 7 (2.7) | 4 (3.2) | 2 (2.5) | − | − |
100–365 Days | 1 (0.4) | 1 (0.8) | − | − | − |
Smoking (Yes), N (%) | 100 (38.6) | 57 (55.1) | 26 (32.1) | 15 (31.9) | .108 |
Packs, mean (sd) | 3.04 (1.9) | 3.23 (2) | 2.73 (1.8) | 2.85 (2) | .526 |
Alcohol (Yes), N (%) | 217 (84.1) | 110 (86.6) | 63 (77.8) | 41 (89.1) | .141 |
Glasses, mean (sd) | 7.13 (5.7) | 6.29 (5.1) | 7.79 (6.2) | 8.25 (6.4) | .103 |
Fatigue, dips, need for recovery, chronotype and sleeping accommodations
Total | <45 yrs | 45–54 yrs | ≥55 yrs | Difference p-values | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
CIS-8*, mean (sd) | 36.36 (4.24) | 35.95 (4.07) | 36.36 (4.41) | 37.58 (4.28) | .085 |
Dip days (Yes) (N, %) | 96 (41) | 53 (55) | 25 (26) | 16 (17) | .358 |
Dip experience (N, %) | .685 | ||||
Mentally | 41 (39) | 24 (41) | 10 (33) | 7 (44) | − |
Physically | 19 (18) | 11 (19) | 5 (17) | 1 (6) | − |
Both | 46 (43) | 23 (40) | 15 (50) | 8 (50) | − |
NFR°, (scale 0–100) | |||||
Median IQR | 20 (9.09–36.36) | 18.18 | 27.27 | 18.18 | − |
Mean (sd) | 26.42 (18.28) | 26.57 (18.75) | 26.41 (18.25) | 24.37 (16.73) | .772 |
Midsleep duration, mean (sd) | |||||
Offshore | 2.72 (2.14) | 2.93 (2.38) | 2.55 (1.86) | 2.24 (0.53) | .156 |
Free Days | 3.75 (0.96) | 3.97 (1.04) | 3.53 (0.93) | 3.63 (0.78) | .348 |
Sleep duration, mean (sd) | |||||
Offshore | 7.18 (0.99) | 7.21 (1.06) | 7.15 (0.94) | 7.03 (0.78) | .605 |
Free Days | 7.82 (1.01) | 7.88 (1.06) | 7.78 (1.02) | 7.74 (0.88) | .235 |
Work ability, work functioning and ageing at work
Total | <45 yrs | 45–54 yrs | ≥55 yrs | Difference p-values | |
---|---|---|---|---|---|
Work Ability Index, mean (SD) | |||||
overall-item (0–10) | 8.41 (1.06) | 8.63 (0.92)ab
| 8.19 (1.09)a
| 8.22 (1.15)b
| .008 |
physical demands (0–5) | 4.3 (0.54) | 4.37 (0.52) | 4.21 (0.47) | 4.26 (0.61) | .078 |
mental demands (0–5) | 4.22 (0.56) | 4.25 (0.54) | 4.24 (0.59) | 4.22 (0.47) | .940 |
WF*, mean (SD) (range 1–10) | 8.20 (0.9) | 8.33 (0.83) | 8.09 (0.82) | 8.09 (0.96) | .091 |
WF_satisfaction, N (%) | .409 | ||||
Very satisfied | 62 (24.3) | 29 (23.2) | 16 (20.3) | 17 (37) | − |
Satisfied | 168 (65.9) | 84 (67.2) | 56 (70.9) | 25 (54.3) | − |
Neutral | 15 (5.9) | 7 (5.6) | 3 (3.8) | 4 (8.7) | − |
Dissatisfied | 3 (1.2) | 1 (0.8) | 1 (1.3) | − | − |
Very dissatisfied | 7 (2.7) | 4 (3.2) | 3 (3.8) | − | − |