Health & Safety Report 2014

HEALTH & SAFETY REPORT 2014

From 1994 to 2013, operational causes have accounted for 36 per cent of the accidents, 32 per cent have been due to technical failures and another 32 per cent caused by external factors. Although the non-fatal reportable accident rate on the UKCS since 1994 represents a significant improvement over previous years, non-fatal accidents continue to occur with disappointing regularity with an occasional two-to-three-year period of respite.

Seventy-five per cent of operational accidents occurred during flight, all of which are attributed to pilot error. The remaining 25 per cent occurred on the ground.

Eighty-six per cent of the technical failures have been attributed to dynamic component failures (main rotor gear box, main rotor blade and tail rotor). A structural issue accounts for the remaining 14 per cent.

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).

In 2012, when two EC225 Super Pumas experienced main rotor gearbox failures, both flight crews were forced to execute a controlled ditching but, most fortunately, all persons on board were safely recovered.

Offshore helicopter accident rates on the UKCS have been compared with worldwide fatal and non-fatal reportable accident rates for the period 1995 to 2013 using data from the International Association of Oil and Gas Producers (OGP). This reveals that on average UKCS offshore helicopter operations carry significantly less risk than elsewhere in the world. However, 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 operations that have the largest percentage of accidents.

Figure 23: Comparison of Fatal and Non-Fatal Reportable Accident Rates, 1995 to 2013

Region

Fatal Accident Rates (per 100,000 flying hours)

Non-Fatal Accident Rates (per 100,000 flying hours)

Worldwide

0.50 0.26

1.39 0.91

UKCS

Source: Oil & Gas UK/OGP

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