The services of the now-defunct company that kept a secret blacklist of “troublesome” workers subscribed to by major employers in construction may also have been used by the offshore oil industry, writes Phil Chamberlain.

A file held by the Consulting Association since 1995 but which has only recently surfaced suggests that the industry body at the time threatened to cut the university funding of an academic if he continued to be critical of health and safety regimes.

Prof Charles Woolfson (pictured), then at the University of Glasgow, was well-respected for his extensive research on safety in the North Sea following the Piper Alpha disaster. He was particularly critical of the drive to cut red tape, which he saw as weakening health and safety codes.


The file on Prof Woolfson, which has only just surfaced, reports that by June 1996 his activities were “now being felt by ACOA” – thought to refer to the then offshore oil industry body. The file goes on: “Funding from oil industry to Glasgow University may be cut if above activities continue, or there may be a reduction in his activities to prevent this happening.”


Commenting on the emergence of the file, Prof Woolfson said: “There is a clear intent to do me professional harm. This organisation and the industry obviously felt sufficiently threatened by critical academic research on safety to put me on a blacklist.

“When I started the work I said to the university that there might be some reaction from the industry. I was told that as long as I could substantiate my work they would support me, whatever the circumstances. I think the university deserves credit for that.”

There is no evidence that any funding was withdrawn and Prof Woolfson says he is not aware of having suffered any detriment as a result of the file. He is now at Linkoping University in Sweden and continues to publish widely on safety in the oil industry.


A spokesperson for the University of Glasgow said: “As an institution we would never seek to influence the work or research of colleagues on the basis of any real, perceived, or implied threat from an external body or agency.”

Jake Molloy from OILC, the union representing offshore oil workers, said: “It is quite shocking and appalling. The oil and gas industry is renowned for putting pressure on anybody who challenges or questions them.”

Up until 2009, the industry operated what was effectively a blacklist called Not Required Back (NRB), whereby a contractor could ensure that troublesome personnel were not re-employed on offshore platforms.

A statement from Oil & Gas UK, the industry body, said: “Our records offer no evidence that Oil & Gas UK has ever subscribed to the Consulting Association, or has paid anyone to maintain files on people critical of the industry; nor are we aware of such activities being carried out in the past.

“Given the top priority that the UK oil and gas industry places on the safety of its workforce and the open safety culture that this promotes, Oil & Gas UK does not condone such practices.”


The Consulting Association was funded by the construction industry to maintain blacklists on thousands of union activists – in many cases because of their defence of health and safety. It was shut down by the Information Commissioner’s Office (ICO) in 2009 and its records seized.