Community
Taking Safety to
Heart and Home Offshore worker finds a strong safety culture at work inspires him to be a safety leader in his community. By Moira Baird Having worked in the offshore oil and gas industry for the past 17 years, Walter Walzthoni has discovered that safety here is more than a slogan—it’s a way of life. That’s what inspired him three years ago to join the Central Avalon Ground Search and Rescue (CAGSAR). When he’s not on a three-week shift rotation on Hibernia, he’s available for searches, teaching safety programs and fundraising for equipment.
Safety is important to Hibernia’s Chef Coordinator Walter Walzthoni, including when he’s out climbing, such as on a recent trip to the 3,500 metre summit of Glockturm mountain in Austria.
For the past year, Walzthoni has also been a member of the Hibernia platform’s high‑angle rescue team, which is trained to rescue fellow crew members in distress who are working at heights or who have fallen into hard-to-reach areas.
“We have a safety culture offshore,” says Walzthoni, “For me, it’s about giving back to the community a little bit.” Walzthoni grew up near Innsbruck, Austria. He arrived in Canada in 1987 seeking new experiences. He started out working as a chef in Alberta before moving to Newfoundland and Labrador a few years later. By 1995, he was working at Bull Arm, where the Hibernia gravity base structure was built. He is currently the Chef Coordinator on board the Hibernia production platform.
Photograph: Courtesy Walter Walzthoni
Walzthoni notes that kitchens provide plenty of opportunities for workplace injuries, food-borne illnesses and food allergy reactions. The risk associated with any illness or injury is magnified when one is in a remote location—and so plenty of effort is made offshore to avoid them all. Each work day for Walzthoni and the nine‑person kitchen staff begins with a toolbox talk, essentially a safety chat on the issue of the day: proper lifting techniques, knife safety, or proper food safety temperatures. Safety is also an integral component of everyday life working and living on an offshore platform. Muster drills are held every Sunday, and one of Walzthoni’s jobs is to track reports from each muster station and ensure everyone is accounted for. capp.ca/context
An avid outdoorsman, woodworker and rock climber, Walzthoni brings this robust offshore safety culture mentality wherever he goes. Walzthoni notes, “I don’t do things now the way I used to years ago.”
“The whole safety culture offshore becomes part of you. I don’t do things now the way I used to.” “On some days we just do a head count, on other days we do a person-down exercise, or a person overboard or fire or a gas detection…it’s a different scenario every week,” he notes. Each job on the platform is preceded by a “Step Back” moment in which crew members take a few minutes to see if they have the right tools and personal protective equipment for the work. There are also weekly safety meetings to discuss issues raised by the crew and any incidents that occurred.
For example, before he starts his chainsaw, he first dons safety glasses, hard hat, boots and safety chaps—a collection of protective clothing he once rarely considered using. Walzthoni, who recently climbed the 3,500-metre Glockturm Mountain in the Alps, takes similar precautions when rock climbing, ensuring his harness, carabiners and ropes are in good working order. Meanwhile, as a member of CAGSAR, Walzthoni is ready to help out on search and rescue requests that occur near his community. He also teaches the Hug-a-Tree and Survive program to young children, instructing them to stay put, rather than wander around, if they get lost in the woods. Another program, aimed at teenagers, teaches basic wilderness survival skills, such as how to check ice thickness, what equipment to bring, and the importance of travelling with a buddy. For Walzthoni, it’s all a chance to bring his safety awareness and training home. “The whole safety culture offshore grows on you and becomes part of you,” he says. context . volume 2 . issue 3 . November 2014
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