Joint written evidence from Avincis Group, Bristow Helicopters Limited and CHC Helicopter (HCS0001)

1. Overview

1.1   In its Terms of Reference for this inquiry, the Committee makes reference to the ‘industry’ involved in the provision of helicopter flights in the UK North Sea. This industry includes helicopter manufacturers, helicopter operators and the energy companies whose staff and contractors travel between the mainland and offshore installations. The industry works together on safety. This submission represents the collective views of the industry’s three main helicopter operators:

• Avincis Group: a UK-based company that operates out of 295 bases in 10 countries. Under the Bond Air Services and Bond Offshore subsidiaries, Avincis provides aerial services for mission critical and blue light services around the world including medical emergencies, civil protection, search and rescue, fire fighting, coast and city surveillance and energy support services including serving oil rigs in the North Sea.

• Bristow Helicopters Limited: Bristow has been providing helicopter services to governments and the worldwide offshore energy business for over 60 years. Bristow Helicopters Limited is part of Bristow Group Inc, an international company that adopted the Bristow name. Bristow operates over 400 aircraft around the world, and, as well as serving the energy industry, operates search and rescue services in the UK.

• CHC Helicopter: with a history reaching back to helicopter services established in the 1940s, CHC specialises in transportation to oil and gas platforms, search and rescue services, and helicopter maintenance and overhaul. CHC has two divisions: CHC Helicopter Services and Heli-One (a helicopter maintenance, repair and overhaul business). CHC operates about 240 helicopters in 30 countries around the world.

1.2   Worldwide, combined, the three operators employ over 10,000 people. In 2012, they carried around 3 million passengers using a fleet of nearly 1,000 helicopters.

1.3   In the UK, the operators together employ almost 2,000 people. In 2012, they carried over half a million passengers to installations in the North Sea with a combined UK fleet of over 80 helicopters. Over the period from 1981 to 2010, there were almost 3 million flight hours in the UK Continental Shelf sector of the North Sea with over 54 million passengers carried.

2. Safety in offshore helicopter operations

2.1   As operators, it is our duty above all else is to provide the safest possible operating environment for our crews and passengers. All three operators are dedicated to safety – not only independently, as commercial organisations driving quality and safety for our customers through innovation, but also increasingly in collaboration.

2.2   Notwithstanding our collective commitment to safety, the North Sea oil and gas industry operates in a challenging environment and there are many inherent risks. Aberdeen is home to the largest helicopter operation in the world and is considered one of the safest. A recent study commissioned by the UK Offshore Oil and Gas Industry Association Limited[1] found that for the period from 1995 to 2010, the safety record of helicopter operations in the UK Continental Shelf compared favourably with other operations in the North Sea and those elsewhere in the world. The following table compares the global fatal and non-fatal accident rates of UK Continental Shelf helicopter operations from 1995 to 2010 with all North Sea and worldwide operations, based on 100,000 flying hours.

*99% of UK oil and gas production occurs under the seas surrounding the UK, from the seabed known as the UK continental shelf (UKCS).

2.3   Since 2010, the end-point of this study, there has been three accidents in the UK North Sea. Two of the accidents were controlled landings on water and all passengers and crew returned safely to shore. The third, on 23 August 2013, resulted in the tragic deaths of four of the 18 people on board. The Air Accident Investigation Branch is continuing to investigate to establish the full facts surrounding this tragic accident.

3. Regulatory and customer standards and oversight

3.1   Rotary aviation is a highly regulated sector. All operations are overseen by the UK Civil Aviation Authority (UK CAA). Each operator holds an Air Operator Certificate (AOC) issued by the UK CAA. To secure an AOC, operators go through rigorous scrutiny and audits of their procedures, people, assets, and systems. We also provide evidence of how we prioritise the safety of our people and passengers above all else. This certificate approves the operators to provide commercial passenger flights for the oil and gas industry.

3.2   In addition, airworthiness is underpinned by strict compliance procedures laid down by the European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). The Agency promotes common standards of safety and environmental protection in Europe and worldwide. It provides for a single European market in the aviation industry.

3.3   As well as the UK CAA and EASA regulations, operators are obliged to comply with OGP standards for helicopter operations. We are also subject to the contractual requirements of our customers, which often include customer-specific aviation standards (e.g. a minimum number of flight hours before a pilot can fly offshore). Although most standards are routinely met by all operators, there can be significant additional variations. An operator with 10 clients, for example, might be expected to operate flights to 10 different standards. And, as each customer company has its own standard, each must conduct its own audits.

3.4   None of these additional customer requirements individually erode safety, nor do they conflict with regulations, but as a whole they introduce complexities to an operator’s Operations Manual. Potential areas for improvement include a move to a single set of high standards and more common audit processes. A more joined-up approach would improve clarity and reduce complexity.  The UK CAA is centrally positioned to be able to help drive this effort.

3.5   Another example of where the UK CAA could contribute to driving standards further still is through the already valued work of its Helicopter Safety Research Management Committee, the profile and scope of which could be increased.

4. Safety systems and innovation

4.1   Safety starts in our own procurement of aircraft; we expect safety excellence and innovation from helicopter manufacturers. The North Sea is served by a mixed fleet including AgustaWestland, Eurocopter, and Sikorsky.

4.2   Each operator manages operational safety using integrated Safety Management Systems (SMS). In 2012, a regulatory requirement to have an SMS was introduced in the UK although we had implemented SMS long before the requirement was introduced.  The SMS is used to manage Safety Policy, Safety Risk Management, Safety Assurance and Safety Promotion.

4.3   Each operator also employs Safety and Quality teams to develop and implement comprehensive internal quality and safety programmes agreed by the UK CAA. Our operations are overseen by the CAA through processes including approval of operating and maintenance manuals and internal audit programmes.  The CAA also participates in our monthly safety review boards.

4.4   Over the years, many technological developments, which began at the initiative of one operator, have been shared with other operators and adopted by the wider industry. Examples of such technological enhancements are set out below:

• Health and Usage Monitoring System (HUMS): Originally developed in the late 1980s, this system continually monitors the condition of the helicopter to identify potentially hazardous conditions, ensuring early identification of possible defects. The system has been shared across the industry and is now a legal requirement on helicopters providing services in the North Sea.

• Airborne Collision Avoidance System (ACAS): On the navigation display, the ACAS warns pilots of the presence of other transponder-equipped aircraft which may present a threat of mid-air collision. The advanced version, ACAS II, is required by international law to be installed in all commercial air transport aeroplanes. It provides pilots with mandatory aural instructions to climb or descend to avoid collision. Originally, ACASII was considered impractical for helicopters due to their perceived limited manoeuvre capability, but after successful development trials by operators this version is set to become standard across all of the North Sea operators

• Predictive approach to triggered lightning: All helicopters are certified, through initial design regulations, to be resistant to the effects of lightning strikes; but avoiding lightning strikes - and the resultant damage and disruption to operations - is always the preferred option. Working with the UK CAA and the UK Met Office, operators have developed a system that identifies the possibility of triggered lightning (where the presence of an aircraft actually initiates the lightning strike) so that pilots can plan flights in a way that prevents lightning strikes by avoiding at-risk areas.

4.5   Ensuring safety is not just about reducing technical risks. The managing of human factors plays an important role in aviation safety. Training of crews and pilots is critical to our approach to safety, especially as the aircraft used are increasingly more complex. Flight crew simulators are now routinely used and these are increasingly sophisticated and able to replicate the characteristics of the aircraft we use, as well as different weather conditions and approaches. There are three simulator training locations in Aberdeen. Training packages are approved by the relevant authorities and include packages which replicate the flying conditions for both routine operations and emergency procedures.

4.6   Operators also use mandatory Crew Resource Management training programmes designed to promote positive crew behaviour and improve performance in the cockpit.  This training includes situational awareness, decision making, threat and error management and crew cooperation.

5. Industry collaboration on safety

5.1   Innovation has helped to improve quality and safety standards, raising the bar on what is possible and what has already been achieved, whilst collaboration through various industry bodies and initiatives has encouraged the benefits of safety improvements to be shared.

5.2   Through a number of forums, operators engage with each other and with the industry. These include, but are not limited to:

• British Helicopter Association: not-for-profit trade organisation representing the UK civil helicopter industry to government departments and international bodies. It promotes the safe, efficient and environmentally responsible operation of rotorcraft in the UK.
• European Helicopter Operators Committee: works to further the field of aviation excellence by encouraging exchange of safety, technical and operational information, materials and data of mutual interest. It provides an annual forum for the most senior representatives from the operators, manufacturers and regulators to discuss significant issues regarding offshore helicopter safety.
• Oil & Gas UK’s Aviation Safety & Technical Group: deals with aviation safety matters and reports into Oil & Gas UK's Health & Safety Forum. Membership comprises senior representatives of the CAA, Health & Safety Executive, OGP and NATS, the helicopter companies and selected oil and gas companies.
• Step Change in Safety’s UK Helicopter Safety Steering Group: works to identify and address cross-industry issues around safety related to helicopter operations in the UK oil and gas industry. Operators, oil and gas companies and contractors, offshore trade unions, pilots’ union BALPA, regulators HSE and CAA and Oil & Gas UK are all represented at a senior level on the group.

5.3   In September 2013, in addition to the above forums, the main operators established a Joint Operators Review (JOR) Working Group to further share best practice, to identify any changes that we can make, and to drive improvements in a coordinated way.

5.4   This Group was set up by, involves, and reports to the CEOs of the three main operators of helicopter services in the North Sea. The JOR is to become the principal vehicle for safety improvement cooperation. Its mission is “to review current processes, procedures and equipment in order to identify best practice in the offshore helicopter industry with a view to further enhancing safety”.

5.5   The areas of focus for the JOR, as stated in a terms of reference letter signed by the CEOs of the three operators, are:

• Automation: working to agree and implement best practice in operating automation in the same aircraft type, regardless of the operator.
• Training: reviewing how we use simulators and procedural best practice, including the use of flight data monitoring (FDM) and cockpit resource management (CRM).
• Manufacturing: engaging manufacturers to identify technology and guidance to crews that is best in class.
• Safety information: creating an Information Exchange network which enables timely and effective exchange of safety-related information between manufacturers, operators and, ultimately, O&G aviation advisors. 
• Emergency response: making emergency response more effective, including communication with industry and cross-industry cooperation in response to incidents.   

5.6   Once the first tranche of prioritised work is complete, the JOR Working Group will review progress and consider the benefits of increasing further its engagement with OEMs, oil and gas customers, regulators and others so that together we can continue to further raise safety standards in our operations.

December 2013

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