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Oil & Gas UK Responds to AAIB Report into 2009 Helicopter Ditching

Oil & Gas UK welcomes the Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) report published today (14 September 2011) on the ditching of the helicopter carrying workers to the ETAP oil production platform in the central North Sea in February 2009.

Action to address issues raised in the report was taken by the Helicopter Task Group which was set up by Oil & Gas UK following two major helicopter incidents in 2009. This work is now being taken forward by the Helicopter Safety Steering Group under Step Change in Safety.

The recommendations on which action has already been taken are:

Safety Recommendation 2011-049

“It is recommended that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) re-emphasises to Oil & Gas UK that they adopt the guidance in Civil Aviation Publication (CAP) 437, entitled Offshore Helicopter Landing Areas – Guidance on Standards, in so far as personnel who are required to conduct weather observations from vessels and platforms equipped for helicopter offshore operations are suitably trained, qualified and provided with equipment that can accurately measure the cloud base and visibility, in order to provide more accurate weather reports to helicopter operators.”

Industry Action:

• Over 50 offshore sites across the UKCS have been set up to provide hub station information (cloud, weather, visibility data), with the last few remaining sites in the process of being set up.

• Since February 2009, the number of industry employees training as meteorological observers on offshore oil and gas installations has been substantially increased. To date, over 630 people have completed the two-day weather forecasting course run by either the Met Office or StormGeo. The aim is to train sufficient numbers to have up to four or five fully trained weather observers per installation in the UKCS and for them to have a web-based refresher course every two years.

• Action is also in hand to provide a standardised network of automatic weather reporting equipment on UKCS oil and gas installations, in order to share weather data between operators. The network will provide data to aid trained offshore observers and enable them to take advantage of the hub station information. This will help improve the accuracy of the offshore weather observations given to helicopter operators. The network, which will complement the weather observer training already provided to helideck personnel, should be fully operational later in the year.

Safety Recommendation 2011-053

It is recommended that the Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) amends Civil Aviation Publication (CAP) 437, Offshore Helicopter Landing Areas – Guidance on Standards, to encourage operators of vessels and offshore installations, equipped with helidecks, to adopt the new lighting standard, for which a draft specification has been published in Appendix E of CAP 437, once the specification has been finalised.

Industry Action:

• The industry has been working with the CAA for over ten years to improve the landing lights on offshore helidecks. New contrasting (green) perimeter lighting was introduced three years ago and subsequent work has been carried out to develop effective and suitably robust means for illuminating the circle and the large ‘H’ at the centre of the helideck.

• The production version of a new lighting system for these areas is to undergo final testing during the winter months. It is hoped that the new system will be approved for manufacture in the spring at which point Oil & Gas UK and Step Change in Safety will recommend its use as industry best practice.

Recommendations in an earlier 2009 AAIB Bulletin regarding the personal locator beacons (PLBs) worn by offshore helicopter passengers and referred to in today’s report, have already been addressed. Following the removal of PLBs from use in the UK in February 2009, the devices have since been substantially modified and subsequently reintroduced offshore. Their use is now mandatory for all offshore travel. Life raft locator beacons have also been modified to address problems with transmission interference. Training in the correct use of the beacons is now incorporated into formal offshore survival training courses as well as in the safety briefings given to passengers before flying offshore.

Oil & Gas UK’s health and safety director, Robert Paterson said: “The UK offshore oil and gas industry suffered two major helicopter incidents in 2009: the ditching in February and of course the tragic loss of Flight 85N shortly afterwards. Immediate action was taken in setting up the Helicopter Task Group as a means to identify and address cross-industry issues relating to helicopter safety. Many of the recommendations in today’s report have been anticipated and the group helped to accelerate progress on many fronts. The Helicopter Safety Steering Group under the industry’s flagship safety initiative, Step Change in Safety, continues the work of the task group on a much broader basis.”

Apache North Sea’s Alan Chesterman, co-chair of Step Change in Safety’s Helicopter Safety Steering Group, said: “The industry is committed to learning the lessons from this incident and has been ahead of the game in terms of proactively implementing measures to bolster helicopter safety – some of which have been identified in this report. The Helicopter Task Group was instrumental in moving helicopter safety forward in the UK and the Step Change in Safety Helicopter Safety Steering Group must continue to build on this good work.

“The Helicopter Safety Steering Group is made up of dedicated people from helicopter operators, oil and gas operators and contractors, workforce safety representatives, regulators and trade unions. Around the table we have the enthusiasm and commitment to drive the positive changes needed in order to ensure offshore helicopter travel remains safe and continues on a journey to become even safer.

“The group now looks ahead to the publication of the AAIB’s findings of the tragic crash on 1 April 2009 and to act on the lessons for the UK oil and gas industry.”

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