The philosophy of using regulatory standards as a reference for your operarting standards has, unfortunately, one large hole in it! The normal way life goes is that despite our best efforts we occasionally fail to meet or targets consistantly. Sometimes we do well and sometimes we fall short. If the Regs are your template then falling short means busting the Regs. As these regulations are frequently the
Lowest Acceptable Standard then busting them takes us into territory which is not only non-compliant but also double-dodgy.
Through the auspices of an effective Safety Management System and a well written Ops Manual it is possible to define higher standards than those specified in the Regs and thereby protect the operation from those 'WHOOPSSSS!!!' days when things go awry. All it takes is ........
The will .......
The money ......
and
The will to spend the money.
Now we are sorting the would-be-heli-ops-manager-boys from the men.
As Whirly says, if you think spending money on a pucka set-up is expensive, try having an accident. It could set your oil company client back between 100 and 150 million bucks and you would pick up a sizeable bill too.
G
