With these procedures, the offshore oil and gas operators, Den Helder Airport and helicopter operators put in place measures to prevent spreading of the SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19 to offshore installations as much as possible. As the COVID-19 pandemic has spread in all regions internationally, this procedure also provides measures for individuals who have travelled internationally before coming to Den Helder Airport. This procedure puts measures in place to evacuate people who, according to the advice from the back-up doctor, have symptoms that indicate a case definition “Suspicious case COVID-19”.
It should be noted that measures are in place to evacuate people from platforms in case of COVID-19 suspicion.
Oil and gas production is defined as one of the vital functions in the Dutch society. The oil and gas industry has the responsibility to do what is necessary to maintain the offshore gas production. The safety of individual workers and the colleagues around them is a prerequisite for our operations.
The intent of the arrangements is to adhere to the RIVM criteria as closely as possible. In specific cases where RIVM criteria cannot be met, alternative measures were put in place which should lead to a comparable level of protection. The NOGEPA medical advisor has checked such alternative measures with GGD and RIVM. Keeping a distance between passengers of 1.5 meters in a helicopter is not practicable. Therefore, additional levels of protection were put in place: (1) screening of passengers at Den Helder Airport and (2) the use of surgical face masks by all passengers.
With regard to the use of face masks, it is important to know that we received explicit confirmation that the masks that were ordered do not impact the need from the Dutch medical health care for PPE.
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