Health & Safety Report 2015

HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT 2015

For the 32 per cent of accidents due to external factors, the majority (86 per cent) were the result of weather-related events, including five lightning strikes and an encounter with a water spout. The final accident accounts for the remaining 14 per cent and was a very heavy helideck landing caused by adverse helideck environmental effects (hot turbine exhaust plume). A comparison of UKCS offshore helicopter accident rates with worldwide fatal and all reportable accident rates, supplied by IOGP, can be made for the period 1995 to 2014 (see table below). This indicates that, averaged over this time, UKCS offshore helicopter operations are lower risk than they are globally. Nevertheless, it is important to understand that helicopter operations in many of the global regions lack regulatory management and equipment sophistication when compared with the UK. Also, on the UKCS, helicopter operations are exclusively two-engine, two-pilot operations whereas, for example, in the US Gulf Coast region and elsewhere, there are a large number of small, single-engine and single-pilot operations. It is these types of operation that have the largest percentage of fatal and non-fatal accidents.

Figure 22: Comparison of Fatal and Non-Fatal Reportable Accident Rates, 1995 to 2014

Fatal Accident Rates (per 100,000 flying hours)

All Accident Rates (per 100,000 flying hours)

Region

Worldwide (Estimate)

0.49 0.27

1.35 1.34

UKCS

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