Major changes are under way to make offshore helicopter travel safer following the two Super Puma accidents in 2009.
Industry body Oil and Gas UK announced a catalogue of new measures yesterday following the official report into the first accident, which happened in February that year.
The Air Accident Investigation Branch (AAIB) yesterday found that crew error and the malfunction of an alert system had caused the crash.
The helicopter came down near a BP oil platform in the Etap field, 125 miles east of Aberdeen, in foggy conditions.
Oil and Gas UK said a huge amount of work was already under way, through its Helicopter Safety Steering Group, to address the 27 recommendations put forward by the AAIB.
A key recommendation was that people who conduct weather observations from boats and platforms are properly trained to measure cloud and visibility to better inform pilots.
An Oil and Gas UK spokes-man said: “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 UK Continental Shelf (UKCS) and for them to have a web-based refresher course every two years.
“More than 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.”
A new standard of lighting on helidecks was also suggested.
The spokesman added: “The industry has been working with the CAA (Civil Aviation Authority) for over 10 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.”
Oil and 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.”
The investigation into the second crash – which killed 16 people on April 1 – is continuing.
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