Action errors and rule violations at offshore oil rigs - The role of engagement, emotional exhaustion and health complaints

Oct 22, 2026

Uploaded by Jake

Action errors and rule violations at work lead to adverse outcomes including increased non-productive time, reduced product quality, accidents, injuries, and even catastrophes. This study examined psychosocial antecedents of action errors and violations, proposing an adverse pathway where emotional exhaustion increases errors/violations via reduced engagement and health complaints, and a beneficial pathway where engagement reduces risks via mediation by health complaints. Survey data from 653 oil production workers across two rigs supported the hypotheses, with one mediation exception. Contractor status and overtime were also related.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages9

Reading Time23 min

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Introduction

Action errors and violations

| Action errors and rule violations at offshore oil rigs: The role of engagement, emotional exhaustion and health complaints Gro Ellen Mathisen a, ⇑, Linn Iren Vestly Berghb
a University of Stavanger, Faculty of Social Sciences, N-4036 Stavanger, Norway b Statoil ASA, Postboks 8500 Forus, N-4035 Stavanger, Norway | | | | --- | --- | --- | | a r t i c l e i n f o | a b s t r a c t
Errors and rule violations at work can lead to adverse consequences such as increased non-productive time and reduced product quality, as well as accidents, injuries and even catastrophes. This study investigated psychosocial precursors of action errors and violations and postulated two main hypotheses: (a) there is a positive association between emotional exhaustion and action errors/violations, and health complaints and reduced engagement mediate this relationship (the ‘‘adverse pathway”); (b) there is a negative relationship between engagement and action errors/violations, and health complaints mediate the relationship (the ‘‘beneﬁcial pathway”). Six hundred and ﬁfty-three oil production workers from two oil rigs responded to a survey measuring the study variables. Findings from regression analyses supported the hypotheses, except for the expected mediation of health complaints of the emotional exhaustion and action errors/violations relationship. Additional ﬁndings were that temporary contractor workers reported a lower level of action errors/violations than permanent employees did, and that reported action errors and violations increased with reported overtime hours.
􀀁 2016 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved. | | | Article history:
Received 14 September 2015
Received in revised form 21 December 2015 Accepted 14 January 2016 | | | | Keywords: Engagement Fatigue Exhaustion
Oil and gas industry Stress
Action errors | | | 1. Introduction Action errors and rule violations at work can lead to adverse consequences such as increased non-productive time and reduced product quality, as well as accidents, injuries and even catastrophes (Frese and Keith, 2015; Hale and Hovden, 1998; Skalle et al., 2014). For instance, rule breaking or misinterpretation is a contributing factor to the majority of serious incidents (Skalle et al., 2014). Over the years, attention to organizational, work environmental and human factors as antecedents of errors and violations has increased among scholars (Bergh et al., 2014; Cooper, 2000; Flin et al., 2008; Guldenmund, 2000; Hale and Hovden, 1998; Haukelid, 1998, 2001, 2008; Reniers et al., 2011). There are several examples from the oil and gas industry of a relation between action errors and underlying organizational and human factors. For instance, the Piper Alpha oil platform disaster with 167 deaths was caused by poor communication at shift handover and leadership failures in 13 emergency responses (Cullen, 1990). However, there is still a need for more systematic knowledge of the mechanisms that enhance or reduce the risks of action errors and rule violations, including the role of cognitive challenges, emotional states, ⇑ Corresponding author. Tel.: +47 41 47 11 27. E-mail addresses: [Gro.e.mathisen@gmail.com](Gro.e.mathisen@gmail.com), [Gro.e.mathisen@uis.no](Gro.e.mathisen@uis.no)[ ](Gro.e.mathisen@uis.no)(G.E. Mathisen). organization of tasks and work stress, as well as health and work environmental factors (Bergh et al., 2014). The present study takes further steps along this path and investigates how the factors of emotional exhaustion, engagement and health complaints inﬂuence action errors and violations at offshore oil rigs. Offshore oil rig activity involves a range of accident risks including ﬁres, falling objects, hydrocarbon leakages and explosions. When errors are made in these workplaces, the consequences can be devastating (Deacon et al., 2013). Offshore workers are exposed to a number of physical and psychosocial stressors, including cramped physical environments, long w

FAQs

What are action errors and how do they differ from rule violations?

Action errors are unintended deviations from plans or inadequate feedback processing, or incorrect actions due to lack of knowledge. Rule violations involve a more conscious intention of non-compliance, such as knowingly failing to follow rules and procedures.

What two main hypotheses does the study propose?

The adverse pathway hypothesis states that emotional exhaustion is positively associated with action errors/violations, with engagement and health complaints mediating. The beneficial pathway hypothesis states that engagement is negatively related to action errors/violations, with health complaints mediating that relationship.

Which findings were supported, and what was the key exception?

Regression analyses supported the hypotheses overall. The exception was the expected mediation of health complaints in the relationship between emotional exhaustion and action errors/violations.

Oct 22, 2026

Uploaded by Jake