FLYING to work in a helicopter may appear to be a glamorous ploy to avoid rush hour, but what if you couldn’t leave your workplace for weeks at a stretch?
The GV employs a fly-in-fly-out workforce of 84 that hail from as far afield as Queensland and Tasmania. Workers rotate on variations of a basic roster of two weeks on, one week off.
Many on board the Griffin Venture say life on an FPSO provides the best and worst of routine and working away from home.
Several staff run family businesses at home in their time off, while others prefer to spend time with family and go on frequent holidays. Whatever the choice, it is facilitated by the shift cycle and the generous remuneration common to those in the offshore oil and gas industry.
Maintenance specialist Warwick Beasley said the lifestyle offered both chaos and complete monotony.
“That’s why people are out here,” he said.
Mr Beasley said he and his wife run a hotel in his home State of Tasmania, which he is able to attend to on his rostered weeks off.
“A lot of people use it [working in the oil and gas industry] to set themselves up in businesses at home,” he said.
Mr Beasley and his wife, who has a law/commerce degree, have built their hotel business to the point where his work roster has no impact on the running of the business. His wife is able to work two days a week doing bookwork and looking after their three-month-old daughter.
