Health and Safety Report 2019

HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT 2019

4.3 Offshore Helicopter Reportable Accidents Helicopter accidents and serious incidents, as defined in Regulation (EU) No 996/2010, are reported to the CAA. In addition, all flight safety occurrences, as described by the CAA’s CAP 382, are reported to the CAA using the mandatory occurrence reporting (MOR) scheme. There are reports submitted every month, providing constant oversight of safety-related occurrences. From 1997 to 2018, four fatal accidents claimed the lives of 38 offshore workers and flight crew. Two accidents were caused by catastrophic component failure and two were attributed to human factors. Sixteen reportable non-fatal accidents have also occurred since 1997. The causes include major component failures, pilot error, lightning strikes, major airframe damage, and main and tail rotor damage. In most cases, only the helicopter was damaged but, infrequently, these accidents have resulted in injury to personnel. 2018 was an accident-free year in offshore helicopter operations. As a result, the UKCS’ five-year average all accident rate has decreased from 0.52 to 0.26 per 100,000 flying hours. The accident rate data show that the five- year average for fatal accidents has remained between 0.2 and 0.5 per 100,000 flying hours for the last decade and in 2018 reached zero for the first time since 2001.

Figures 28 and 29 illustrate the distribution of UKCS fatal and all reportable accidents from 1997 to 2018, as well as fatal and all accident rates per 100,000 flying hours.

Figure 28: Fatal and All Accidents Distribution

Non-Fatal Accidents Fatal Accidents Flying H ours

5

120,000

100,000

4

80,000

3

60,000

Number of Accidents

2

Number of Flying Hours

40,000

1

20,000

0

0

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016 2017 2018

Source: OGUK

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