It's all a balance or compromise, Gulli.
The 206 pilot was most assuredly *on* duty; there is no such thing as an off-duty 206 during daylight hours in the GOM. If he was shut down, it was because he was waiting on his customer to finish work downstairs. Presumably (as opposed to assumably) the 407 pilot was just landing for fuel, as that is a fuel-stop platform for that operator.
It is true that the 206 pilot could have parked right in the middle. But without FM radio commo with the platform, the 407 pilot would have had to "buzz" the place to get the 206 pilot's attention, then circle while the 206 cranked up and moved. Yes, the 206's flight time would have most likely been billable, as would be the extra circling time for the 407. But you also have one more cycle on the 206 engine as well as the risk of another take-off and landing.
Buzzing the platform is "iffy" sometimes. If the platform is noisy and everyone is inside the living quarters with the t.v. on, they might not hear the ship that wants to land. I've circled and circled and circled, waiting for the other pilot to trudge upstairs to move. It's no fun when the customers onboard *my* ship have a tight or full schedule that day and don't feel happy about "wasting" time waiting for someone else.
Plus its friggin' hot in the GOM these days, and if I were the 206 pilot, sitting comfortably in the air conditioned quarters below watching the aforementioned t.v., I would personally rather not have to go up and crank if there was an acceptable alternative. And in the GOM, it has always been acceptable to land two helicopters on a single deck if there is sufficient room. (The actual amount of room needed from MR blade tip to obstruction will be specified in the Ops Manual.) After all, we're supposed to be professionals out there, not private pilots. We're not allowed to use that "sudden gust of wind blew the helicopter" excuse for hitting something. ("Sudden gust of wind, eh? Oh, really? I thought that's what we had CYCLIC STICKS for...")
Chevron USA owns their own aircraft and does have a "one-ship-per-heliport" policy. Further, they require that the one-and-only helicopter park right in the center of the deck, ensuring that a dead battery or other non-starting malady will require parts to come out on a boat rather than in another helicopter. Odd, but they think it's safer/better and who are we to argue?
No accident is ever good. Safety considerations aside, this one is bad for other reasons too. The market for LongRanger L-4's and 407's is tight right now. Nobody has any helicopters sitting around idle. RLC is going to have to scramble to replace the ships on those contracts (repairing both is obviously going to take some time) - not to mention looking pretty dumb to their respective customers.