Norwegian offshore engineering and construction firm Aibel has started a trial to allow apprentices to work offshore as an organized part of their training. The aim is to give the apprentices a broader experience, Aibel said.
Aibel's Sleipner portfolio has now welcomed three apprentices from Haugesund as a permanent part of the offshore rotation.
One of them is electrician apprentice Brage Stensen, who embarked on his first trip to the Sleipner A platform at the end of April. He looks forward to new experiences during his apprenticeship until the qualifying examination later this year, Aibel said.
Stensen said: "During my initial time as an apprentice, I have been incredibly happy to work continuously at the yard and not be part of an offshore rotation. That way, I've learned a lot in a short period. But now, I am ready for new challenges and variety. By being offshore, I also gain useful experience working at a live facility, where risk assessments of the work you are going to carry out are given a completely different dimension."
According to Aibel, the onshore installation manager in the Sleipner portfolio, Espen Koch, did not hesitate to accept the request from the resource team, consisting of department manager E&I resources Kim Andreassen and apprentice manager Geir Olav Jentoft. Koch hopes that more projects will be inspired and provide space for apprentices on other offshore installations in the time ahead, Aibel said.
"We noticed that we have a degree of flexibility in our portfolio and could use this to contribute to internal learning by allowing apprentices to travel offshore. This helps to ensure relevant competence among the apprentices who are the future of Aibel. And for the apprentices, I think it works as an additional feature that can make Aibel even more attractive to future applicants," says Koch.
"Although the apprentices are now changing places of work, they will still follow the curriculum for the rest of the apprenticeship period. This has been important for the people behind the idea," Aibel added.
"This does not at the sacrifice of something else, and it is an addition that these young people hopefully find exciting, giving them even wider experience during their apprenticeship," says Kim Andreassen.