Oil & gas sector increasingly aware of need to support staff’s mental health
"Mental Health Awareness Increasing Among Oil, Gas Industry", 5 Jul 2016
Mindfulness-based stress management is growing in popularity across the oil and gas industry as the sector responds to a rise in mental health awareness, according to Robert Gordon University Senior Lecturer in Mental Health and Wellbeing, Dr Steve Smith…
The fall in oil price and its effect on the economic state of the industry, resulting in thousands of redundancies, has meant that stress related conditions such as anxiety and depression have become important issues within the sector…
Smith is currently working with North Sea oil and gas companies as they seek new ways to proactively protect their workforce from the harmful effects of work related stress. Mindfulness-based approaches are one of the most accessible mental health solutions used by organizations of all sizes and across all sectors…
“With the challenges of modern working life, we recognized the value in offering mindfulness training to our employees as one means of improving and maintaining their wellbeing. We wanted to offer a skill that would benefit employees at home as well as at work…” said Vic Retalic, UK HSE & Security Manager for Premier Oil.