Lose Weight or Lose Your Jobs, Offshore Workers Told
Postedabout 2 months agoActiveabout 2 months ago
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Workplace PoliciesHealth and WellnessOil Industry
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Workplace Policies
Health and Wellness
Oil Industry
The BBC reports on a UK offshore oil company requiring workers to meet a certain weight limit, sparking discussion on the reasonableness of such policies and their implications.
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Nov 7, 2025 at 11:53 AM EST
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The new requirement is that the maximum weight of a clothed worker is 124.7kg or 274.9 lb.
One worker said he was at 118kg (260.1 lb), and his target weight is 110kg (242.5 lb).
Not to throw shade at anyone in particular, but using the USA NIH.gov BMI calculator, for a 5'-11" man, the "healthy" range of BMI is 18.5 to 24.9, in mass that is approximately 60.32kg (133 lb) to 80.7kg (178 lb).
I'm guessing they're not built like the average tech worker.
I've been in tech for decades, and coincidently I now have occasion to interact with oil rig workers. They're just normal people, maybe with a bit of an edge to them, which makes sense given the work. There are entire teams at $dayjob that I could swap out with an entire team from a rig, the only difference you'd notice is clothing.
They're also not super-ripped lumberjacks. They're not lifting heavy shit for hours a day. A good day for them is general upkeep where nothing goes wrong. Think things like: adjusting valves, inspecting equipment, welding things, inspecting things. Oil rigs are _massive_ and everything on them is massive. Humans aren't using their muscles nearly as much as machinery.
Which is probably why they're in this debacle.
> Thousands of North Sea oil workers are being told they must lose weight if they are to keep flying offshore - or face losing their jobs.
> OEUK said the average weight of offshore workers had risen by almost 10kg (1.5st) since 2008.
https://people.com/new-york-city-outlaws-discrimination-base...
ABC News reported that the ordinance — which will take effect Nov. 22 — excludes cases in which a person’s height or weight makes them unable to perform required aspects of a job.