Thousands of offshore workers could lose jobs if they fail to lose weight

Industry leaders have insisted a “comprehensive plan” is in place to help thousands of offshore workers at risk of losing their job because of their weight.

Trade body Offshore Energies UK (OEUK) is bringing in guidelines from November 2026 which will require all those working offshore to weigh less than 124kg (19.5st).

The change is being made to ensure people can be winched off platforms by helicopter, if needed, in an emergency situation.

Graham Skinner, the health and safety manager at OEUK, said the organisation will be “working really hard” over the next 12 months to ensure affected workers can lose weight.

Noting the “population in general is getting heavier”, he said there are about 2,500 people employed offshore who are above the limit and “who will definitely have to lose weight”.

Speaking on BBC Radio Scotland’s Good Morning Scotland programme, he stressed: “Those people will be really supported by the offshore community and their employers during that time.”

Mr Skinner said there are a further 2,500 offshore workers who are “below the weight limit but might need some additional support and weight management”, meaning “5,000 is the total number of people who might be affected to some lesser or greater extent” by the policy change.

He said: “We have got quite a comprehensive plan to manage people’s weight, so we will work really hard over the next year to make sure people can lose weight that are above the weight limit.”

Asked if people could lose their jobs if they fail to shed the pounds, Mr Skinner said this could happen in “the very worst cases”.

He said: “Employers will have a duty to support their workers through this and try to find reasonable solutions for it, but in the very worst cases that would be the case for some people.”

Insisting it is a “really important topic”, he noted that “our population in general is getting heavier, and that is reflected in the offshore population”.

He said: “We have been addressing this over the years, but unfortunately weight has continued to rise.

“It increases year on year and it begins to create some challenges across all the safety systems we have in place offshore to bring workers home if the worst happens, whether its illness or injury.

“We’ve had a comprehensive review of those safety systems, and individuals’ weight is a real challenge.

“We’ve worked together for the last two-and-a-half years as an industry to find solutions across things like lifeboats, stretchers, helicopter rescue, and we’ve really discovered a weight limit is the only solution available to us.”

“We have addressed these issues in the past, we have perhaps dealt with symptoms rather than the cause, we have upgraded lifeboats in the past, we have brought in the extra broad categorisation for helicopter passengers.”