Kartlegging av kreftrisiko og årsakspesifikk dødelighet blant ansatte i norsk offshorevirksomhet

Abstract

ENGLISH SUMMARY

Strand LÅ.

Cancer risk and cause-specific mortality among workers in the Norwegian offshore

oil industry.

Nor J Epidemiol 2001; 11 (2): 137-142.

The Cancer Registry of Norway has, in collaboration with the Norwegian oil industry association, started a

project investigating cancer risk and cause-specific mortality among workers in the Norwegian offshore oil

industry. The project started in 1996 by identifying the 61,300 present and former workers on the platforms

on the Norwegian continental shelf. The main contributors to the crew lists were oil companies, contracting

companies, labour unions, safety training schools, and the national archives of Norway. In 1998 a selfadministered

questionnaire was distributed by mail to the 57,000 workers alive and living in Norway. The

questionnaire included questions on offshore job history, other occupations, leisure activities, and life-style

factors such as smoking, alcohol consumption and nutrition.

The study design of the project is a prospective cohort study, where cancer incidence and mortality

among the exposed (the offshore workers) will be compared with the non-exposed (the general population).

Factors known to cause cancer and other diseases in other industries are probably present in the offshore

work environment. The offshore workers may also be exposed to harmful agents more or less specific for

the work on the platforms, such as crude oil, gas, and drilling mud. Intense work periods and long leave

periods, a diet rich in fat and calories, cheap tobacco, a ban on alcohol consumption on the platform, and

worry about helicopter flights and platform safety are also factors that may influence the workers' health.

The overall response rate was 62%. The collected material will constitute a basis for research in the

coming decades. With regular intervals the cohort will be linked to the cancer database in the Cancer

Registry and the Cause of Death Registry at Statistics Norway.

Because they are a highly selected group, the offshore workers as a whole will probably be as healthy as

the general population, yet excesses in cancer incidence and certain causes of death among the most exposed

workers (i.e., maintenance workers, drilling personnel, welders, painters and cleaners) are expected.