Is it just me…

Or is this just a bit ridiculous?

A woman worker on an oil rig will appear in course today over the evacuation of the oil rig over the weekend. Apparently the story goes like this. The woman had a dream about a bomb on the rig (not that unusual, after all haven’t we all dreamt about bombs at our workplace/school/in the street etc at some point? I have). She told a colleague about the dream. This conversation was overheard by someone who reported it as a bomb threat. But wait for it… the woman who had the dream is being prosecuted and not the person who started the scare by reporting a partial conversation.

A spokesman for the Offshore Industry Liaison Committee (the biggest union representing rig worers) said:

“It appears that the whole thing was started when someone was a bit upset about a dream they had and that appears to have sparked one of the biggest security operations the North Sea has ever seen. The cost has been astronomical and there was never any need for it…It was complete madness. This girl had a dream about a bomb being on board and she was a bit shaken. The next thing anyone knew workers were being evacuated…It was complete madness on behalf of everyone. There was never any reason to evacuate the platform.” He said he felt sorry for the woman who appeared to be at the centre of the alarm.

From Guardian

So there you have it, lets all remember that now recounting our dreams may lead to prosecution. But I doubt this would happen if it were a man. Women on rigs are routinely treated with suspicion and sometimes subject to appalling routine harrassment. Given the charges are unclear and the women did nothing worse than have a conversation with someone I wonder about the motives of a. the eavesdropper and b. the Police in prosecuting this case.