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24 people, including the relatives of seven UK deep-sea divers who were killed while working in the Norwegian Oil industry, are to bring accident at work compensation claims against the Norwegian government, claiming the workers were used as "human guinea pigs" during exploration work off the continental shelf during the 1970s.
According to the BBC, although the government has not commented on individual accident at work compensation claims, it has said that it will compensate injured divers and accepts "moral, but not legal, responsibility" for the deaths and injuries of former workers.
The litigation was originally initiated by a Norwegian diver who claims that his injuries and health conditions, which include lung damage, a back injury and memory loss, were brought about by diving at unsafe depths for extended periods while using unsafe breathing gases.
He told the BBC, "We have 15,000 documents in front of the court. We can prove they knew they were hurting us and that they covered it up."
One British diver who is party to the accident at work compensation claim commented, "The problem is that the diving business was never regulated properly. Like all oilfields, it's money that steers everything.
"At the time, Britain was anxious to get the oil out as quick as possible and so was Norway."
"There's overwhelming evidence that we were used as guinea pigs."
If the comments of the Norwegian government are anything to go by, it seems that personal injury lawyers representing the claimants may be entering complex legal territory. They recently released a statement, which said, "The Norwegian state has not denied that divers have been injured as a consequence of diving in relation to the petroleum activity in the North Sea during the pioneer period."
"The state admits a responsibility on the basis of moral and political aspects, but does not acknowledge any legal liability."
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