As long as Shell (and the other oil companies) is involved in it, safety won't increase much. There is tremendous financial pressure on the local people to keep costs down, and to make the fewest number of flights possible, thus each aircraft has to carry the maximum amount of weight. Dispatchers simply won't allow dropping passengers and cargo unless forced to. The oil companies are making obscene profits, but it's never, ever enough, there is always pressure for more. Every airline flight is IFR, every time. Reducing the payload of every offshore flight and requiring them to all be IFR is not going to happen. In the GOM, a large percentage of the flights are done in single-engine, single-pilot aircraft, none of which are IFR capable. If Shell and the other companies really want to bring offshore flight safety up to the level of the airlines, they have to put their money where their mouths are, and force it to happen. Get rid of the crappy, poorly-designed offshore platforms, and install helidecks that are actually safe to land on. Require all IFR, multi-pilot helicopters. Get working weather observation equipment on all the platforms. Get reliable ATC communications offshore. ADS-B might be it, but that's still to be seen. It would require a huge investment in infrastructure and aircraft, and I don't see that happening in my lifetime. Money talks and b***t walks.