Health and Safety Report 2019

HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT 2019

4.1 Overview As with all modes of transportation, helicopter travel is not without risk. Over the last 30 years the UKCS offshore industry has suffered four fatal accidents, claiming the lives of 38 offshore workers and flight crew. The last fatal incident, which involved the the L2 Super Puma aircraft G-WNSB, occurred off the coast of Shetland on approach to Sumburgh Airport and the Crown Office has confirmed that a Fatal Accident Inquiry will be held. In the five-year period since this incident there have been no fatal helicopter accidents in the UKCS sector, despite significant offshore activity. As an indicator of current UKCS operations, over 124,000 sectors were flown in 2018, totalling 77,286 flight hours and helicopters were used to transport 750,245 passengers. This marks an increase in overall activity, which in 2017 totalled 99,031 sectors flown and 69,005 flight hours, but a decrease in the numbers of personnel transported, which fell from 820,158. In September 2013 the CAA initiated a review to examine the risks and hazards of offshore helicopter operations in the UK, conducted in conjunction with the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) and the Norwegian Civil Aviation Authority. A report of the review was published in February 2014 entitled CAP1145: Safety review of offshore public transport helicopter operations in support of the exploitation of oil and gas . An action from the review was to set up a CAA-led safety governance group for offshore helicopter operations in the UKCS sector, now known as the Offshore Helicopter Safety Leadership Group (OHSLG). One of the primary purposes of the group is to assess the ongoing effectiveness of implemented safety initiatives to ensure tangible measurable safety benefits are delivered. This has seen the introduction of controls measures such as flying limitations in the most severe sea conditions to improve the chances of rescue and survivability, better emergency breathing equipment, changes to the way in which pilots are trained, improved helicopter design and increased oversight of helideck safety. Concurrent with the CAP1145 release was the formation of global industry group HeliOffshore. Its work is based around a safety strategy that identifies the most likely potential accident types and the goals that it believes must be achieved to prevent them from occurring. The group also identifies goals that need to be achieved to allow people to survive accidents if they do happen. Some of its key safety programmes includes flight path management, helicopter terrain awareness and warning, flight crew operating manuals and health and usage monitoring, among others. In order to provide North Sea oversight, the OGUK Aviation Safety Technical Group meets quarterly. Participation froma diverse and comprehensive stakeholder group including regulators, other industry associations and helicopter operators ensures this group is ready and able to identify and resolve current and emerging aviation issues.

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