Tuesday 26 January 2010

Helicopter Safety Awareness Courses Aim to Answer Workers’ Concerns

Helicopter companies operating in the North Sea are due to deliver a series of educational courses this year to oil industry workers which aim to provide answers to concerns, educate on all aspects of offshore flight including safety procedures, and give the opportunity to see behind-the-scenes and meet key personnel such as pilots and engineers.

 

Twelve Helicopter Safety Awareness Courses are planned for 2010 with the first series taking place on 26, 27, 28 January at Evolve Training Centre in Aberdeen. A key work area of the Helicopter Task Group, each course will accommodate up to 15 offshore safety representatives and last a full day. Attendees will be able to learn about the pre-flight planning process and maintenance procedures, explore a helicopter hangar where they will see aircraft being maintained, and ask any questions directly to the helicopter operators in a Q & A session. Safety representatives who complete the course will then be able to cascade the information they learn to many more offshore workers through the established safety representative network.

 

Chairman of the Helicopter Task Group, Bob Keiller, said: “These courses are already extremely popular with the first three sessions fully subscribed. Oil industry workers will be able to discover why certain safety procedures exist and find out the huge amount of work that surrounds helicopter travel. The courses give the workers the opportunity to learn and question, and they also give the helicopter operators the chance to inform and educate others on what is their day-to-day business. Helicopters are a key part of offshore life and the Helicopter Task Group continues to work on numerous projects to improve helicopter safety.”

 

Courses will be presented by the three main North Sea helicopter operators; Bond Offshore, CHC Scotia and Bristow. Each attendee will receive a certificate to mark their participation and interested individuals are able to book on to the courses through Step Change in Safety, the UK’s offshore flagship safety initiative.

 

Alex Patrick, pipe fitter for PSN and an offshore safety representative on the Miller platform, said: “These courses provide me and my fellow workers with a great opportunity to ask questions about helicopter travel directly to the people involved – the operators, the pilots and the engineers.  Experiencing first-hand what goes in to helicopter travel, face-to-face with the operators, enables us to air any concerns we have and helps us to better understand our commute to work.”

 

To book a place on a Helicopter Safety Awareness Course please visit www.stepchangeinsafety.net.

ENDS

 

For further information, please contact Britta Hallbauer on 07891 769113.

 

Notes to editors

 

Oil & Gas UK is the leading representative organisation for the UK offshore oil and gas industry.  Its 103 members are companies licensed by the Government to explore for and produce oil and gas in UK waters and those who form any part of the industry’s supply chain.