A North Sea safety boss has told workers not to “sit in silence” if they have fears about flying offshore.
Step Change in Safety team leader Les Linklater – who has led an industry-wide initiative to tackle fears about helicopters – said Friday’s tragedy was a “devastating blow” for everyone.
He said workers are “emotional” – and last night urged them to engage with their bosses if they no longer want to fly.
“Clearly, today we find ourselves with a situation that none of us want to consider,” he said.
“The loss of four lives is never acceptable. What we have to do is take the necessary time to figure out what has gone wrong, and take the appropriate action.
“People will clearly have reduced confidence in not just Super Pumas, but helicopter travel in general.
“We encourage those folks who have had their confidence further knocked to work with their employers and helicopter company and with trade unions to get the necessary information
“If you have concerns, raise them – don’t sit in silence.”
Step Change in Safety set up the industry-wide Helicopter Safety Steering Group (HSSG) following several chopper ditchings in recent years.
On Saturday, the group called for the suspension of all Super Pumas as precautionary measure until there is “sufficient factual information” to resume flights.
“The reason for putting in the temporary restriction is to have a time-out for safety reasons and for us as an industry to pay our respects,” Mr Linklater said.
“We do expect it to be temporary.”
The group will meet again on Wednesday to discuss the suspension.
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