Title	Offshore Medicine [electronic resource] : Medical Care of Employees in the Offshore Oil Industry / edited by R. A. F. Cox
Imprint	London : Springer London, 1987
Edition	Second Edition
Connect to	http://dx.doi.org/10.1007/978-1-4471-1395-9
Descript	XXII, 258 p. online resource

To be asked to prepare a second edition of a book is heartening for any author or editor. Apart from the opportunity to make the corrections and amendments which are inevitable in a practical manual there is also the possibility to make additions which enhance its usefulness. Above all a further edition usually means that the book has been found to be acceptยญ able to a large number of readers and has fulfilled a need. This is indeed the case with Offshore Medicine, which in its description of the medical aspects of offshore work has provided a unique guide to the occupational health of a new industry. The rapid development of offshore exploration for gas and oil which began in the 1960s created a whole new range of related industries. Most attention was focused on the problems of deep diving in the North Sea because of the great expansion of the diving industry, its technological advances and the high mortality of divers in the early years. Diving, however, is only a fraction of the total endeavour concerned with the offshore industry. The much larger population of workers offshore who man the rigs and barges, the toolpushers, helicopยญ ter pilots, crane drivers, scaffolders and roustabouts, geologists and so on, so sympathetically described by A. Alvarez in his recent book Offยญ shore, A North Sea Journey, and the harsh and difficult conditions in which they often have to work are sometimes forgotten

1. Introduction -- Geological Exploration -- Drilling Rigs -- Exploratory Drilling -- Development -- Production -- Communications and Transport -- Hazards -- Costs of Offshore Operations -- Implications for the Doctor -- Incidence of Major Mishaps -- 2. Legal Aspects of Safety, Health and Welfare on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf -- The Continental Shelf Doctrine -- Safety, Health and Welfare Legislation on the United Kingdom Continental Shelf -- Summary -- References -- Schedule of Principal Legislation Governing Safety, Health and Welfare Offshore in Denmark, France, The Netherlands and Norway -- 3. Pre-plaeement and Periodic Medical Examinations -- Pre-placement Examinations -- Periodic Examinations -- 4. Provision of Back-up Services -- Specialist Services -- Offshore Disasters -- 5. Offshore Medical Care -- Functions of the Offshore Medic -- Number and Type of Patients Seen by Medics -- Selection and Training of Medics -- Medics and Diving -- Medical Facilities and Supplies -- Communications and Transport -- Transporting a Sick or Injured Person -- Stand-by Vessels -- Supply Vessels -- 6. Some Special Problems -- Hydrogen Sulphide -- Radioactivity -- Methane -- Methanol -- Ethylene Glycol -- Obesity -- Dust -- DrillingMud -- Welding -- Noise and Vibration -- Trauma -- Scabies and Other Infestations -- Tropical and Other Endemic Diseases in Immigrants -- Psychological Disturbances -- Drugs and Alcohol -- Partial Drowning and its Treatment -- Hypothermia -- Treatment -- 7. Diving -- Diving Techniques -- Submersible Decompression Chambers and Deck Chambers -- Gases Used in Diving -- Decompression Techniques -- Medical Problems -- Professional Bodies Associated with Diving -- Medical Examination of Divers -- Return to Diving Following Decompression Sickness and Other Illnesses -- Flying After Diving -- Transport of a Patient with Decompression Sickness -- Transfer Under Pressure and Hyperbaric Rescue -- Sources of Assistance in a Diving Emergency -- Long-term Effects of Diving -- Drugs Under Pressure -- 8. Catering and Hygiene -- Critical Areas -- Routine Health and Hygiene Inspections -- 9. Dental Problems Offshore -- Dental Standards -- Dental Jurisprudence -- Dental First Aid -- Dental Problems in Diving -- 10. Investigation of Fatal and Non-Fatal Accidents -- The Fatal Accident -- The Non-Fatal Accident -- Accident History -- Diving Accidents -- Transport of Bodies -- Conclusion -- Appendices