{"id":79705,"date":"2017-05-22T12:10:11","date_gmt":"2017-05-22T10:10:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/?p=79705"},"modified":"2025-12-19T11:22:49","modified_gmt":"2025-12-19T10:22:49","slug":"dat-boorplatform-kan-in-theorie-elk-moment-exploderen","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.erasmusmagazine.nl\/en\/2017\/05\/22\/dat-boorplatform-kan-in-theorie-elk-moment-exploderen\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Theoretically, that drilling platform could explode at any time\u2019"},"content":{"rendered":"
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\n\t\n\n<\/svg>\n<\/span>\n\tImage by:<\/span>\n\n\t\t\t\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tIan Mantel<\/a>\t\t\t\t\t<\/span>\n\t<\/p>\n<\/figcaption><\/figure>

For her research on collaboration, Petra Saskia Bayerl spent a week among some real diamonds in the rough: men who work on a drilling platform. \u2018At one point they started performing skits for the camera. It was really sweet.\u2019<\/p>\n

I\u2019d never given it much thought, but if you think about it, a large oil company would have people in the office and people who work on the platform. There are the managers, the planners and the number crunchers, who work in their air-conditioned offices setting the targets from nine to five. And then there are the technicians, painters and cooks, who spend ungodly hours far from civilisation, surrounded by the untameable forces of nature, making sure these pounding, hammering machines keep running. Non-stop. For weeks, sometimes for months without a break.<\/p>\n

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For the Cowboys in Science<\/a>\u00a0section, Geert Maarse interviews scientists who are prepared to go just a step further than their colleagues. Petra Saskia Bayerl is an associate professor at Rotterdam School of Management, where she specialises in organisational culture, communication and technology. For her\u00a0research on drilling platforms<\/a>\u00a0she visited offshore\/on-shore teams in Scotland, Trinidad and the United States, interviewing more than three hundred people in the industry.<\/p>\n\n\t<\/div>\n

And no, these two groups don\u2019t necessarily get on well with each other. If they have any contact at all, it\u2019s through email, something that doesn\u2019t really promote mutual understanding. The large corporation, whose name Saskia Bayerl can\u2019t reveal (due to a signed non-disclosure agreement), felt that this situation needed to change. A video link was installed and suddenly, from one day to the next, both groups were in contact with each other 24\/7. Saskia Bayerl\u2019s question was: how would people respond? Would things run more efficiently? Would people suddenly become friends? Would you be able to carry out repairs more quickly? To find the answers to these questions, she spent two years at the company, in their offices and at sea.<\/p>\n

Do you remember the first time you boarded a platform?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe first thing you notice is that everything is shaking and everything smells of oil. I came from an office setting with comfortable chairs and colleagues dressed in suits. Here, everybody was wearing oilskin jackets, everything was cramped, and any time I stepped outside I had to wear my full kit, including chemical sensors to detect any gas leaks. Something else I remember is how I got there: you have to come by helicopter, which is a fantastic experience. You only see the ocean and as you fly through the clouds, you also see \u2018rainbow fires\u2019, rainbows that dart back and forth between the clouds and the sea. An amazing sight.\u201d<\/p>\n

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'Als ik naar buiten ging moest ik mijn volledige uitrusting aan, inclusief chemische sensoren om eventuele gaslekken op te sporen.' (Foto: priv\u00e9archief Petra Saskia Bayerl)<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

What is it like being there?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s exciting and extremely boring at the same time. There\u2019s always something going on, your surroundings are very impressive, the machines have a raw force. Employees spend two weeks on, two weeks off. There\u2019s plenty of entertainment, with a sauna, a pool table, a cinema and a library. There are guitars you can play and a 24-hour kitchen, so you could walk in at three in the morning and have your dinner. But the work is physically demanding and often quite monotonous. You\u2019re staring at a monitor for 12 hours and if you need a bathroom break, someone else has to take over your work. And it\u2019s simply an island in the middle of the ocean with freaking nowhere to go. It\u2019s like a small prison where you see the same 60 people day in, day out. If someone was listening to Internet radio, you couldn\u2019t send off any emails. And that\u2019s how it is for two weeks at a time.\u201d<\/p>\n

How long were you there?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe longest stretch was a week in Scotland.\u201d<\/p>\n

Could you stay there permanently?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cI thought about it. A lot of people do it for the money and you can definitely make double what you would for the same work on-shore. But it\u2019s demanding, especially for your partner or family.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\tOil and gas are being extracted, so theoretically, the platform could explode at any time.\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

What kind of people are they?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a certain type of lifestyle. If the platform shakes, they feel it in their bones. Even if it\u2019s cold, stormy or raining, they still have to keep the platform running. They\u2019re very practical, pragmatic and down to earth, and they have to be,\u00a0<\/em>because they can only rely on themselves. For example, oil and gas are being extracted, so theoretically, the platform could explode at any time. Actually being there makes you realise how insignificant you are compared to the forces of nature and the machines surrounding you. What I liked is that they are a tight-knit community and I was very warmly received. There\u2019s always someone to talk to and of course there are the inevitable disagreements, but you learn to deal with them when living in such close quarters. The platform is their home away from home. They often say: \u2018This is my family. I spend more time with these guys than with my wife and children.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

What did they think of you being there?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cVery different responses. The average age is around 45, so many of them also have children. I enjoyed how they treated me as if I was their young daughter and they were giving me a tour, acting as my chaperone.\u201d<\/p>\n

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De fitnessruimte op het boorplatform (Foto: priv\u00e9archief Petra Saskia Bayerl).<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

Are there only men on the platform?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThat was the case on the platform where I spent the most time. Sixty men. And me.\u201d<\/p>\n

I can imagine that there were a few who found it exciting that all of a sudden there was a woman on board.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYes, there were certainly a few like that.\u201d<\/p>\n

How did you know?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSometimes, when I was in the fitness area, men would drop in for a chat and I would think\u2026 okay\u2026 that was odd. And there were a few times someone was outside the door of my quarters.\u201d<\/p>\n

Did that bother you?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNo. In such a closed environment where everyone is hyper aware of your presence, these things happen. But the group also has a self-regulating mechanism where the older men will take one of the younger ones aside and tell them to calm down a bit and take it easy. They look after you that way.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\t

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\n\t\t\u2018At some point the older men tell the younger ones to calm down a bit and take it easy.\u2019\n\t<\/blockquote>\n\n\t<\/figure>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t<\/div>\n

Did they understand what you came to do as a researcher?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cNot really. I explained it clearly, but some of them thought it was some kind of personal hobby. They liked that I was so interested and that they could say whatever they wanted to me. What they enjoyed in their work and what they found difficult. I heard a lot of personal stories and I remember how one of the managers asked me for career advice. He had his doubts about whether he should look for a new job. That\u2019s what happens when you spend a lot of time there, but you\u2019re not really part of the crew: you turn into a kind of occupational psychologist.\u201d<\/p>\n

You compiled information on what happens when two completely different groups of colleagues are suddenly brought in contact with each other. How did that go?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cThe best example is a team I followed. It was during the technology orientation and at first, they didn\u2019t like each other very much. There is a massive divide between on-shore and offshore employees and this includes all the typical stereotypes. Offshore believes that on-shore is only concerned with maximising oil production, and says: we know how the platform works. If you try to ramp up production, you\u2019ll mess everything up. They feel they aren\u2019t taken seriously because they don\u2019t have a university education. And they think that the university people have never done \u2018the real work\u2019. Polar opposites, with a great deal of negativity. But then you see that over the course of a year, both groups started to grow closer thanks to the continuous video link. They started talking about their holidays and at one point they started holding what resembled little fashion shows whenever someone would wear a new shirt. It was really sweet. The offshore men put on little skits in front of the camera using paper puppets. A personal bond emerged.\u201d<\/p>\n

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'Je kunt geen kant op. Het is net een gevangenis' (Foto: priv\u00e9archief Petra Saskia Bayerl).<\/span><\/p><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>

A continuous video link sounds quite intimidating. Was there also a downside?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cDefinitely. Imagine someone constantly breathing down your neck. When you\u2019re at work, when you\u2019re calling your wife. It\u2019s exactly like Big Brother. By the way, it wasn\u2019t just offshore that was being watched all the time. The link went both ways. Sometimes people on the platform could read what the office employees were typing in their emails. Of course this led to a lot of dissatisfaction.\u201d<\/p>\n

None of these people had ever met each other, so that makes for a bizarre situation, doesn\u2019t it?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cCommunication travelled down a chain of command, starting from upper management. In large corporations that\u2019s not unusual.\u201d<\/p>\n

Is this an example of how technology has made management obsolete?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cSome of the management suddenly felt excluded. They felt they needed to be in control, and sometimes with good reason. On a platform, a small error can result in a major disaster. That\u2019s why not everything can be arranged behind closed doors.\u201d<\/p>\n

What is the added value of your field work for science?<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cIt shows us how technology can be used to deal with extreme diversity. We often speak of what is referred to as \u2018virtual team work\u2019, but not about differences like this. These two groups were dissimilar in every imaginable way. They way they think, the way they work, their education, the demographic. It was useful to study such a unique setting as it\u2019s not something that happens very often. In this kind of research it\u2019s crucial that you do more than just listen to what people say. You need to see it, experience it, and only then do you understand where this need for autonomy comes from.\u201d<\/p>\n

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More science cowboys<\/h2>