I see it as more of a level of professionalism. In other sections of these forums there's discussions about the R-44 post crash fires so I'm seeing it as companies who want to do everything they can to make their students and staff safer during training and flying ops.
Don't the bars give a sense of pride as well? I have a lot of pride in what I do and what I've had to do to get where I am.
These are great photos and maybe some companies should look at following the example.
But that's just my 0.02c