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Posts Tagged ‘vaccine mandate’

Give it up Coast Guard. It’s time to drop the vaccine mandate.

Posted in Florida, hurricanes, tagged , , , , on October 4, 2022| Leave a Comment »

“The American people have moved on. The President himself has declared ‘the Pandemic is over.’ Yet, we continue holding fast to an outdated mandate, purging hundreds of dedicated sailors, even though we struggle to meet our recruiting goals. It is now time to take a pause, reevaluate, and assess what this is costing readiness, the taxpayer, and the public perception of how we treat our people,” he wrote in the letter.

Retired Coast Guard Vice Admiral William “Dean” Lee

Meanwhile, a Coast Guard hero during Hurricane Ian is about to be discharged for refusing the vaccine. He is one of 2632 Coast Guard members who refused the shots.

Coast Guard hero Zach Loesch being congratulated by the President

As previously noted, the Coast Guard expelled 7 cadets from the Academy over their Covid vaccination status.

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More vaccine discontent among North Sea workers

Posted in Health, Norway, Offshore Energy - General, UK, tagged , , on January 19, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Oil and gas workers’ union, Unite Scotland, has demanded intervention by the Scottish government in response to Canadian Natural Resources (CNR) International introducing mandatory vaccinations, calling these measures “draconian.”

offshore-energy.biz

As previously reported, a Norwegian union criticized the absence of consultation before Aker BP imposed vaccine requirements at their facilities.

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Supreme Court nixes OSHA vax “work-around”

Posted in energy policy, Health, Offshore Energy - General, Regulation, tagged , , , on January 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

This should not surprise experienced OSHA regulators given the absence of clear legislative authority.

Offshore regulators in the US have used “work-arounds” in the form of Notices to Lessees, Conditions of Approval, and other types of guidance documents. However, there was a general understanding that requirements imposed by these methods would not survive legal challenges unless they were clearly authorized by legislation or regulations. Most work-arounds aren’t challenged because the regulatory authority is reasonably clear, their issuance is at least minimally acceptable to the regulated industry, or the perceived cost of challenges exceeds the cost of compliance.

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While we await the Supreme Court decision on the US (OSHA) vaccine mandate…

Posted in energy, Health, Norway, Regulation, Uncategorized, tagged , , , on January 13, 2022| Leave a Comment »

A Norwegian union representing offshore oil and gas workers has criticized Aker BP’s process to introduce a Covid-19 vaccine mandate for its offshore employees.

offshore-energy.biz

“We agree that we must protect our employees and our suppliers in the best possible way, but it also requires that we are involved in how it should happen and how our employees and suppliers are taken care of in this process.”

Ingard Haugeberg, Industri Energi

Seems like a reasonable position on the part of the workers. As previously reported, many US oilfield workers are skeptical of the vaccine mandate and have warned that they will quit.

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Appeals court reinstates vaccine mandate. Supreme Court next. Will the mandate cause oilfield workers to quit?

Posted in energy, Health, Regulation, tagged , , on December 18, 2021| Leave a Comment »

Vaccine mandate revived.

WSJ story on oilfield workers. Highlights:

  • Many oil workers are skeptical of the mandate and have warned they will quit
  • Ann Fox, chief executive of Nine Energy Service estimates that <15% of the company’s field workers are vaccinated.
  • Justin Clark, a field services manager understands why workers resist:

“I don’t like to be forced to do anything. I almost want to just do the opposite when someone tells me, in that manner, you’ve got to do this.”

WSJ

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OSHA vaccine mandate on ice

Posted in hurricanes, Regulation, tagged , , on November 7, 2021| Leave a Comment »

The 5th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals granted an emergency stay of the requirement by the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration that those workers be vaccinated by Jan. 4 or face mask requirements and weekly tests.

NPR

This court action was completely predictable from the outset. OSHA no doubt knew this but had no option but to dedicate substantial resources to the task. In all likelihood, the ETS/regulation will never be finalized.

Many (probably most) proposed regulations are never completed. Others never get beyond the concept stage. Establishing an OSHA rule takes an average of 7 years. That is not at all atypical for Federal regulators. There are much better ways to accomplish the regulatory objectives as was demonstrated after Hurricanes Katrina and Rita in 2005. Unfortunately our political system frowns on collaborative approaches so we do things the hard way – accomplishing much less in much more time and at a far greater cost.

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So OSHA will be implementing the vaccine mandate for businesses…

Posted in Health, Regulation, tagged , , , on September 10, 2021| Leave a Comment »

and they will presumably do so with an emergency final rule. This will be interesting. Over-under on the days until publication? Number of public comments?

And since the Coast Guard functions as OSHA on the Outer Continental Shelf, will they be enforcing the offshore industry’s compliance with this mandate? BSEE inspectors?

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