Health & Safety Report 2013

HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT 2013

4 Offshore Helicopter Transport Safety Record

4.1 Background Since 1976, the CAA has collected commercial air transport helicopter flight statistics and reportable accident data for UKCS offshore operations under its Mandatory Occurrence Reporting (MOR) scheme. During this 37-year period up to year-end 2012, more than 62 million passengers have been transported to and from offshore installations on the UKCS, with over 7.25 million flights made (sectors flown), consuming nearly 3.5 million flying hours. Regrettably, during this period, 12 fatal accidents have claimed the lives of 115 offshore workers and flight crew. There have been 60 non-fatal accidents. 12 To provide a report that is representative of today’s offshore flight operations using a fleet of modern helicopters, data from 1992 to 2012 have been used for comparative purposes. With this in mind and as a measure of current UKCS activity, in 2012, just over 141,000 sectors were flown, consuming 86,000 flight hours and transporting over a million passengers offshore. Since 1992, six fatal accidents have claimed the lives of 47 offshore workers and flight crew and there have been 18 non-fatal accidents.

4.2 Current Helicopter Types At the end of 2012, the UKCS helicopter fleet numbered 90 aircraft and comprised a mix of airframe types.

Figure 11: Current Helicopter Types used for UKCS Offshore Oil and Gas Support

Type

Weight Class

Introduced

In Fleet

Sikorsky S61

Heavy

Pre 1975

2

Eurocopter AS365 (Dauphin)

Medium

1979

6

Sikorsky S76

Medium

1980

8

Eurocopter AS332 (Super Puma)

Heavy

1982

17

Eurocopter EC225

Heavy

2005

21

Sikorsky S92

Heavy

2005

20

AgustaWestland AW139

Medium

2005

13

Eurocopter EC155

Medium

2007

3

12 A complete listing of the 72 reportable accidents involving helicopters serving the UK offshore oil and gas sector from 1976 to 2012 is provided in an appendix on the Oil & Gas UK website at: http://www.oilandgasuk.co.uk/Health_Safety_Report_2013.cfm

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