At Transocean we manage occupational health in the same manner as safety.  All occupational health and safety hazards are caused by energy sources which can cause harm to our people.  To manage these hazards, we identify energy sources that can result in unplanned or unwanted energy releases. Then we manage the associated occupational health hazards by assessing the risks and taking preventive actions.  These assessments address risks from the inherent occupational health issues associated with the nature of our operations.

Occupational health policies and procedures are written to prevent exposure of personnel to unnecessary risks.  Risks that are associated with our work environment, such as noise, are identified to prevent or reduce personnel exposure.  Overall, there is very little, or nothing, that can be done to mitigate an occupational health issue after the injury occurs.  Understanding the potential for health risks and establishing suitable preventive measures are integral to the success of our journey towards Incident Free operations.

• Noise
• Respiratory
• Vibration
• Ergonomics

Noise
Noise is simply any pressure variation that can be detected by the human ear. Environmental noise on the rigs is a common issue.  Different countries worldwide vary widely in how they deal with high noise problems. The methods applied are very much dependent on culture, economy and politics.  Transocean employs a consistent global preventive approach as the best solution to stop Noise Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL).
At Transocean installations we:

• Perform Noise Surveys – clearly identifying areas of potential high noise
• Post High Noise Signage – communicating to our employees and visitors where the high noise hazards exist
• Awareness Training – helping people to understand the physiological life debilitating consequence of high noise, both at work and home
• Mitigate High Noise – eliminating or reducing high noise sources where feasible
• Use Administrative Controls – to prevent the exposure to high noise areas
• Use Hearing Protection Devices (HPD) – as our last resort, ensuring adequate, appropriate HPD are available and personnel know how to properly use them.
  Our hearing protection program is demanding, but considering the extent and significance of personal hearing loss, a proper level of understanding of the issue is required for all rig personnel.

• Use engineering controls, such as ventilation to prevent personnel exposure.
• Replace substances with potential respiratory hazards with non-hazardous materials.
• Use Administrative controls such as safe work procedures, supervision, and training with the goal of reducing the duration, frequency, and severity of potential hazardous exposure.
• Promote effective use of respirators.
• Have a clear respiratory protection policy with procedures to make it easier to implement an effective respiratory protection program.

Vibration
Transocean’s vibration initiatives provide awareness of safe working practices to personnel who use vibrating tools. Where risks cannot be eliminated, control methods are implemented to reduce the risk such as:

• Low vibration tool purchasing program. 
• Instructing workers in the correct use of equipment in the manner for which they were designed. 
• Improved tool maintenance
• Awareness training of vibration risks

Ergonomics
Transocean’s ergonomic program is designed to provide awareness and guidance of safe working practices for manual handling and ergonomic risks.  Overall the program is intended to:

• Reduce or prevent injuries
• Reduce workers’ efforts by decreasing forces in lifting, handling, pushing, and pulling materials
• Reduce risk factors for musculoskeletal disorders (e.g., awkward postures from reaching into containers)
• Increase productivity, safe working environment and morale