Risk, trust and reputation in the Norwegian offshore supply chain

Abstract

Offshore cargo delivery operations are risky endeavours, particularly during bad weather and when vessels rest in dynamic positioning (DP) mode alongside installations. These operations involve intense interactions among crew on Platform Supply Vessels (PSVs) and installations, and the risk involved is closely related to how these operators relate to each other. Based on ethnographic fieldwork this article presents findings showing that there are times when installations put pressure on PSVs to carry out delivery operations under sub-optimal safety conditions. PSV crews fear that the installations will give them a bad reputation as incompetent, lazy and defiant if they do not comply. When they do not trust that installations appreciate their risk assessments PSV crews find themselves in a conflict between compromising on material safety in order to maintain the reputation they need to secure future contracts, or behaving in optimally safe ways.