Balancing problemMedal award for Draugen design

Coach cut out

person by Trude Meland, Norwegian Petroleum Museum
Trond Jøran Pedersen, coach for Norway’s national ski jumping team, was caught by the police on 12 September 1994 driving a motorbike at 179 kilometres per hour in an 80-kilometre zone.
— From Dagbladet 19.09.1994
© Norsk Oljemuseum

He accordingly had his driving licence withdrawn for the fourth time. An unfortunate incident – but what did this have to do with Draugen?

The answer was safety. Pedersen and Espen Bredesen, a world and Olympic ski jumping champion, were participants in a safety campaign directed at personnel on Draugen. Through a series of videos and brochures, the pair were meant to persuade the offshore workforce to avoid taking chances which could lead to accidents or financial losses.

After his wild speeding, Pedersen was removed from the campaign because Norske Shell felt he no longer had the necessary credibility on safety issues.[REMOVE]Fotnote: Romerikets Blad, 23 September 1994, “Hoppsjefen tas ut av Shell-kampanje”.

The national ski jumping team was hugely popular with Norwegians at the time. Bredesen had won gold medals in the 1993 world championship and followed up with victory at the German-Austrian ski jumping week in 1993/94 and the gold medal at the 1994 winter Olympics in Lillehammer.

Both he and Pedersen had also visited Draugen, where they wanted to transfer knowledge about safe jumping to the safety required on an offshore platform.
The duo accordingly talked about the similarities in preparing for a ski jump and the work which had to be done on Draugen before starting a job.

In his Draugen presentation, Pedersen highlighted the platform management’s responsibility and said that he never let anyone on the jump if the slightest risk existed. It was also important that each jumper accepted responsibility, including for their own kit.

Balancing problemMedal award for Draugen design
Published August 8, 2018   •   Updated October 10, 2018
© Norsk Oljemuseum
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