Thousands of North Sea Oil and Gas Workers are at risk of losing their jobs on offshore rigs unless they lose weight in the next year.
Workers who weigh more than 124.7kg (19.5 st) fully clothed should shed a few pounds next November, according to the industry body.
The new safety policy is expected to affect 2,500 people who work on the beach above the weight limit, which is put in place to save an emergency.
Graham Skinner, the Graham Health and Safety since the UK, the Head of Industry, said that the organization will be “really working” in the next 12 months to ensure that the affected workers lose weight.
Speaking on BBC Scotland’s Great Scotland programme, he said: “Our population as a whole is growing, and that is reflected in the population outside.”
Skinner said that there are an additional 2,500 workers on the coast who are “under the weight but need more support and opening” 5,000 are affected “by the policy change.
“Those people were supported by the offshore community and their employers during that time,” he added.
“We’ve been saying this for years, but unfortunately the weight continues to rise,” said the skinny. “It increases every year and it begins to create some challenges to all the safety systems that are offshore to bring workers home in case of illness or injury.
“We’ve been working together for the last two and a half years as an industry to find solutions to things like lifetchers, restipers that have a limit that works for us.”