Health & Safety Report 2014

5.5 Safety Improvements and Initiatives Since the early 1980s, many safety initiatives and improvements to UKCS helicopter operations have been funded and fully supported by industry and the regulators (CAA and HSE). Some of the major achievements in recent years are listed below but they have not been given any order of priority or importance.

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TCAS 2 Collision Avoidance System

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A programme is under way on the UKCS to introduce an airborne collision avoidance system on all offshore helicopters. This system has the potential to eliminate conflictions between similarly equipped offshore helicopters and to reduce ‘air miss’ opportunities with other aircraft.

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Extension of VHF Communications Coverage and Introduction of ’Multilateration’ Flight Surveillance for the North Sea

In 2004, the UKOOA (now Oil & Gas UK) Aviation Safety Technical Group (ASTG) initiated a joint project with the National Air Traffic Service (NATS) to assess the efficiency and coverage of offshore helicopter VHF aeronautical communications and fight surveillance on theUKCS. The outcome of this review led to significant work and investment being made to upgrade and modernise offshore VHF aeronautical communications and the development and installation of a new ’multilateration’ flight surveillance system which has significantly enhanced air traffic control on the UKCS. The new systems became operational in 2010 and the wide area multilateration was welcomed by air traffic controllers as a surveillance tool that is the equivalent of radar.

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Meteorological Project – Helimet

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In2009, inresponsetoanewCAACAP437requirement,Oil&GasUK ledaproject toprovideaUKCS-widesemi-automatic meteorological recording and reporting network. The aim was to improve the accuracy of weather information used by offshore helicopter flight crews. This project entailed installing specialist meteorological equipment and software on designated hub installations and providingmeteorological observer training for offshore personnel. The Helimet system became fully operational in 2012 and expansion and system upgrades continue. Initial and/or refresher training has been delivered to over 1,000 personnel since the systemwas introduced.

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Helideck Lighting

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Green perimeter lighting was adopted as an international standard on offshore helidecks following CAA field trials of new helideck lighting systems designed to enhance visual cues for landing at night. Green perimeter lighting has been in use on the UKCS for the last four years in conjunction with revised floodlighting.

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The project also identified the significant benefits of lighting the aiming circle and ‘H’ marking. Following successful trials during winter 2012 to 2013, these new lighting systems are being installed on UKCS offshore helidecks.

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Forecasting/Predicting Triggered Lightning Strikes

Responding to requests from industry, the CAA collaborated with the Met Office to investigate and demonstrate the feasibility of forecasting/predicting triggered lightning strikes on helicopters. Oil & Gas UK, the Norwegian CAA, CHC Helicopter and seven individual oil and gas companies have funded the project, for which initial work was completed in June 2011. The system has since been evaluated and improved via in-service trials during the winter 2011/12 and 2012/13 lightning seasons. Although further refinements have been identified, the system is considered mature and helicopter operators have requested that it be left running on the Met Office OHWeb weather information system.

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