A machine engineer who has worked on a gas platform for nearly five years describes a two-week-on, two-week-off rhythm that he says gives him the “ideal balance” between work and personal life. Israelis on the platform work two weeks at sea and two weeks at home, while foreign workers stay for a month at a time. He says he and his wife take six trips abroad a year, and that his shift on the platform runs from 18:00 to 6:00, with some other departments working nights.
He says sleeping on board is usually easy. On the platform he tries to go to bed at 22:00 and wake up half an hour before his shift, and the rest is generally uninterrupted. The hardest night is the one before returning to the platform, when he cannot fall asleep until about 1:00 and has to get up at 5:00 for transport to the ship that takes workers to the rig. His smartwatch usually marks those nights red, unlike green nights at home and yellow nights on the platform. He says this pre-return fatigue is common among colleagues.
In his cabin, he shares a small room with three other men in two bunk beds, each with a curtain for privacy. He sleeps in the lower bunk, above him is a worker from Newcastle, opposite him a man from Texas, and above that an Israeli. The room also has lockers, a shower, a toilet and a television. He says the living area is basic but offers hotel-like conditions, with cleaning, laundry and “amazing” food, including Indonesian cooking and pizza every day at 15:00.
After shifts, crew members talk, play FIFA on PlayStation, use a small gym, and sometimes attend yoga classes on the helicopter deck. He says he is not bothered by the sea, storms or the platform’s risks, and that safety is treated with utmost seriousness. He also says the work has given him friends from around the world and that life on board would not suit people who are overly sensitive or temporary-minded. One woman works there as a nurse and has her own room. Asked what keeps him up, he says almost nothing, because he has no children, a good job and a supportive wife, though he worries when she needs him at home and he is away.
