A recent ‘ideal employer survey’ conducted by Rigzone online oil and gas portal has revealed safety to be a key issue for employees.
 With 8,400 oil and gas professionals across 100 countries questioned, the survey is the first of its kind conducted since the global downturn. Participants were asked to rate attributes that they see as key in an oil and gas employer, with safety coming out as the "single most important attribute" for those working in the upstream, midstream and downstream sectors globally.
Those surveyed were questioned on key issues facing oil and gas industries, such as values, performance and pay rates. Companies were also rated as employers; Shell, Chevron, ExxonMobil, BP and Halliburton have all been ranked as the top five employers.
More than 3,000 companies who are active in the oil and gas sector were named by respondents in the survey.
A whopping 90 percent of respondents from across the oil and gas industry streams ranked a "commitment to health and safety" as their most-important attribute. A "competitive salary", "interesting and challenging work" and "corporate integrity" were seen as the second most-important things that oil workers look for from their employers, with 88 percent of respondents citing these attributes, while amongst millennials, "solid training and development programs" rated just as highly as a "commitment to health and safety".
According to a report developed by the NORA Oil and Gas Extraction Council, in the US, over a 5 year period (2003-2008), 648 oil and gas extraction workers were fatally injured on the job. This corresponds to an occupational fatality rate of 29.1 deaths per 100,000 workers – which is eight times higher than the rate for all U.S. workers for the same period.
Astutis Technical Director, Brenig Moore commented:
“Good health and safety management is a vital component of Oil and Gas industry activities because most of the operational conditions, chemicals and end products associated with Oil and Gas production are well-known to pose serious threats to workers. It is reassuring that in such a high-risk sector, a clear and unyielding commitment to health and safety is viewed as a key organisational attribute for a desirable employer.”
In the Middle East, two Astutis clients took first and second place as top employers. Shell finished top with Saudi Aramco coming in second place. Schlumberger were in third with Halliburton and BP fourth and fifth. The Abu Dhabi National Oil Company (ADNOC) and the Kuwait National Petroleum Company were listed sixth and fourteenth respectively.
Rigzone''s Managing Director, James Bennet said,
"The results are revealing as this is the first major survey to be conducted with the global workforce, and against a background of continuing challenging economic circumstances for the sector. That the largest companies in the sector complete the top 30, the majority having undergone significant change due to the effects of the downturn in the past 18 months, will give them confidence that the workforce remain committed to the sector.” | 
