The first spindle failure occured in South America within months of the 76 going into operation. The blade flew off on approach to & within sight of the rig & all 14 were killed. The next one was a Bristow 76 out of Aberdeen doing some IF training & all 4 on board were killed.
After these 2 accidents, Sikorsky did some spindle mods & I believe no more blades flew off for that reason. Lightning strikes, etc are not the fault of the blade.
Incidently Air Logistics & Okanagan Helicopters were the first 2 operators of the 76.