Meanings of free time for offshore workers

Abstract

This article reports the partial results of a research that was aimed at understanding the meanings of free time attributed by offshore workers in their daily work. The qualitative approach was adopted for the research, which was carried out based on comprehensive interviews conducted with workers of Bacia de Campos (a coastal sedimentary basin of the Northern region of the state of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil). Two major aspects were analyzed: the time there, referring to the lives of workers while on board of offshore oil platforms and the time here, referring to their lives while on land. Substantial elements of the daily life of workers during their time on the platform and the temporal relationships established in their daily work were discussed. It was concluded that the temporal experiences of offshore workers are based on production, whereas free time means rest period and time to recover from the efforts and restore energy to continue the work.

Keywords:
Space and time; Time perception; Production of meanings; Confined work system; Offshore work