UNIONS highlighted health and safety failings in the oil and gas sector today as they commemorated the 35th anniversary of the Piper Alpha disaster.

They gathered at the Piper Alpha memorial in Aberdeen’s Hazlehead Park and resolved to fight for the living.

On the July 6 1988, 165 of the 229 workers on board one of the biggest rigs in the North Sea were killed when it exploded. A further two people lost their lives in the rescue efforts.

The Cullen inquiry into the disaster concluded that the operator of the rig, Occidental, had overseen a regime of “inadequate” health and safety protections and maintenance in an industry notorious for anti-trade union practices.

Aberdeen trades council president Graeme Farquhar said: “The UK offshore oil and gas industry have a poor record of acting on health and safety concerns raised by … workers and their trade union representatives …

“The trade unions and offshore workers know full well that the Piper Alpha fatal accident could have been avoided by strict adherence to stringent health and safety measures.

“When costs to the employers and profit increases for the shareholders become more important than workers’ safety, then the Piper Alpha fatal accident shows that it’s workers and their families who pay the ultimate price.”

STUC general secretary Roz Foyer said: “The STUC will never let the memories of those who passed fade.

“They are a reminder that we must never neglect the health and safety of our workers.

“In their honour, we continue the campaign for better standards of care and protection in the workplace.

“We remember the dead; we fight for the living.”