What is Edison Chouest Offshore doing so right that everyone else is doing so wrong?

I’ve never had a pre-employment x-ray anywhere, except the US Gulf. Nor have I ever had a pre-employment MRI. My understanding is that most states do not allow doctors to expose people to radiation and such tests unless it is medically necessary for diagnosis and medical treatment.

In my experience outside the Gulf, most employers do the standard USCG exam. Some employers are content to rely on the USCG medical card and do not do any physical exam. A very few employers spirometry, step test, computized exercise machines, weightlifting, or have a physical therapist manipulate the joints. But that is rare.

For a while there, I was having to get a chest x-ray fairly frequently for jobs. The impression that I got was that they wanted to be able to prove that they were not responsible if I came down with mesothelioma, or back injury or something. I think it was insurance driven, more than company driven… although some of these outfits are self-insured, so 6 or half dozen. No one has asked me for an x-ray in a long time: maybe its out of vogue. Now I am forced to get my radiation dosage from aeroplanes.

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All you need to know about Chouest’s rise while others grew some or barely survived is he learned how to invest properly. Bought politicians for along time, first big score? LOOP contract. Later giving Sen. Trent Lot appropriations committee chairman’s son a no show job and contributing heavily to Lott’s campaigns, equaled military contracts. BIg contributor to ex gov. Jindall, first favor awarded after his inauguration? Houma/Chouest shipyard. For years the Chouest family and their PACs have been the largest political contributors to Alaska politicians. He gets a big return on his money. Multi-million dollar contracts for $50000+ political contributions. Smart man.

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Old K-Sea Transportation out of Staten Island required new employees to take thorough pre-employment physicals that included x-rays, full body dexterity exams that had employees strapped into a full body harness & MRI/EKG type tests. Other large NY tug companies aren’t as bad but you still get an x-ray & a more thorough exam than what the CG requires. So I know the GoM isn’t the only place that does x-rays with high physical standards for new employees. On these threads I’ve read a lot of horror stories about the ECO company doctor & all of it sounds believable but I really can’t blame any person or company for covering their asses when it comes to avoiding lawsuits from employees with prexsisting injuries & conditions. It doesn’t matter if it is the GoM, West or East coast, it would be bad business to have employees for only 6 months to be on worker’s compensation, long term disability or sueing for a back injury that happened a decade ago.

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The USCG physical should meet international standards and screen out guys with medical problems that are an unreasonable risk. Once a guy has the USCG Medical Card, that should be the end of it. No company physicals should be allowed.

I guess one of us is. I’ve never heard that. I don’t know how enforceable a law like that could be. How’s Canada going to tell a private foreign company what its hiring practices are? Should I call my consul?

Oh. I see. You were not sailing on Canadian flag vessels.

Here is some food for thought …
Is a career mariner in their late 30s to late 40s going to be in the same shape as someone in their early 20s?

Doesn’t matter how expensive a pair of shoes are. After a few years they are going to show normal wear and tear.

Most gulf companies are so scared to death of being sued they have these ridiculous parameters for potential new hires to meet before getting on a boat. I can vouch from my personal experience…hypothetically the pre-employment physical is easier with say a west coast tug company compared to a gulf osv company.
Nowadays more and more companies are taking it a step further and having everyone take yearly physicals as well. It’s a shame to see so many stress out over this. It’s an ongoing trend… but is it a witch hunt or is it legitimate concern to help monitor our health and capabilities for the greater good?

I think it’s pretty well understood that younger, fitter, stronger people are less likely to have health problems or get injured, and when they do they are more likely to recover faster at lower cost.

The other side of the coin is that older senior officers have a lot of experience, are less exposed to risks, and are less likely to get injured. It’s much more expensive if a 35 year old supporting a young family is disabled than it is for a 65 year old with no kids at home.

It’s also well understood that the body does start wearing out, especially after 40. Most people over 40 are going to have decreasing eyesight, hearing, some disk degeneration, the beginnings of arthritis, dental issues, and so on. People who are fat are going to age faster and are more likely to have health issues.

But older workers are less likely to have drug, drinking, or behavior problems. They usually have more experience and skills.

I see a lot of younger guys on a lot of undisclosed medications. I also see guys in their 30s with hip and knee replacements.

The injuries are almost all guys who are doing hands on work. Being a deckhand is not a good retirement job for a former office worker.

There are a huge number of capable captains, mates, and engineers in their 60’s and some in their 70s that are still going strong, but you’d better skip the X-rays and MRIs if you want to hire them.

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Mostly Norwegian owned, but whatever. Seeing as how it’s Labour Day weekend, I gave this some more thought. The STCW, MLC, and ILO guidelines on seafarer medicals are mostly focused on the minimum standards, and don’t have much to say about standards that go above which may be required be specific companies or states. My understanding from crewmates is that the Filipino standard is more rigorous than the Canadian one, which seems to adhere to the international minimums. Those guys are given psychological evaluation, strict weight criteria, blood tests… its a thing they worry about. Where-as ours are: history of illness? can you see this? can you hear this? can you lift this? pee here, please. That’ll be $200.

The spirit of the rules seems to be to make a uniform standard that contributes to safety, and there’s provision for appeals if you fail the standard but can still justify your ability to perform the job safely. There’s also a mention that the doctors should be independent (presumably from the government, mariners, and employers). But I don’t see anything about protecting workers from companies that want to use higher standards or their own doctors for an additional exam beyond the one we need for our license. I did see Chouest’s company doctor screwing up people’s livelyhood, maybe to limit company liability. I also saw them fail to provide medical evacuation to someone who really needed it. Seems like the kind of thing that if a union were involved, it wouldn’t be like that.

The company that I work for now, which is multinational: I just have an extra medical form and when I get my statutory exam, the same doc fills in the company form at the same time.

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Chouest has overly intrusive physicals that have nothing to do with ability to do the job.

Right, but your family doctor is the one you go to with your problems. This doctor is the one you go to to get your paperwork. Totally different. I wouldn’t go to a TC doctor if I needed care of some kind.

can we cease discussing employment physicals whether for Chouest or any other company? This matter does not pertain to the topic of this thread

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33m7xva

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Greater Good? Greater good of the industry certainly not the mariners. Its one thing to have a thorough record of past injuries and a baseline physical so bogus injuries/ lawsuits are weeded out, its another to exclude hiring mariners who the CG deems meet international requirements, but in the end without union representation mariners have no option or defensive option against companies who perform draconian exams.

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This is certainly true. I hate to see these big Jeaux Boss bayou companies that treat mariners badly growing too big or expanding their bad treatment of mariners outside the Gulf.

I especially hate to see them putting local companys that treat their local employees well out of business. It’s worse to see them blackball all local mariners that have been doing the work for years.

In many years I’ve seen a lot of things, but I’ve never seen anyone have a heart attack. I’ve seen very few problems caused by health issues, but I have seen some.

I’ve seen very few lawsuits and no “bogus” lawsuits. The lawsuits only happened after a bad company left the injured Mariner with no choice, but to sue. Several times, I have seen companies get away with completely screwing over injured empployees, but still not get sued. This lawsuit fear thing is really overblown. If a company has good insurance, treats it employees fairly, and meets it legal obligations, it has nothing to fear from lawsuits. Being an a-hole is what causes lawsuits.

Many years ago I worked for ECO on 3 different vessels. I was led to believe ECO didn’t build a vessel until they has a contract in hand for the duration of the vessels note. CAT helped financed a lot of their vessels. Candies introduced ECO as to how to get the specialized US Gov contracts.

Well, to address the topic… I was hired in April of 2010. So, their success was pretty much inevitable from that point.

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I like your style. :wink:

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2 posts were merged into an existing topic: Physical exams as part of shipboard employment