Equinor completes investigation into Mongstad benzene exposure

Incident

On 29 October 2025 at Mongstad, personnel were exposed to chemicals while working on a measuring instrument; a team filling naphtha into the instrument expected a 30-minute task that lasted over five hours, prolonging exposure.

Health impact

Two employees reported discomfort after the event and one had a brief absence from work.

Investigation findings

The internal investigation identified elevated benzene levels in the work area, respiratory protection that did not provide adequate protection for the conditions, shortcomings in chemical-environment management, and that perceived time pressure during the post-shutdown ramp-up affected planning and risk assessment; no new risk assessment was conducted when the task exceeded its planned duration, and gaps were noted in introducing an updated respiratory protection regime.

Measures and reporting

Actions include replacing naphtha with glycol in this type of instrument (glycol does not emit benzene), reinforcing compliance with the protection regime, increasing availability of respiratory protection, additional training on benzene and gas detectors, and assigning a dedicated safety engineer to improve the chemical working environment; the incident has been reported to the Norwegian Ocean Industry Authority, which has notified the police and will receive Equinor’s report.