The Hidernia oil-drilling platform 315 kilometres off the coast of Newfoundland
Nearly five years after a helicopter crash killed 17 people en route to the White Rose and Hibernia oilfields off the coast of Newfoundland, new aviation safety regulations are in the works to prevent similar tragedies in the future.
The proposed amendments to the Canadian Aviation Regulations would require emergency floatation systems and breathing apparatus for over water flights involved in offshore operations.
They would also prevent flights in weather where sea conditions at the destination exceed the measures for safe “ditching” of the vessel, except in emergency situations. Additionally, the proposals, laid out in the Canada Gazette quarterly index, would amend
a requirement that crew members wear passenger transportation suits – survival suits – when flying over water with a temperature less than 10 C.
Crew members instead would be able to wear specialized suits tailored to their duties as the passenger suits can interfere with their ability to manipulate controls and “increases the likelihood of thermal exhaustion.”
The proposals take into account several recommendations made by the Transportation Safety Board in 2011 after its investigation of the 2009 Cougar Helicopters crash that left 17 people dead and raised concerns about aviation safety in Canada.
The accident’s lone survivor, Robert Decker, as well as family members of the victims have been critical of Canada’s aviation safety protocol and its slow response to outdated regulations.
Some of the recommendations are already in place, but mandated by the industry rather than government.
Petroleum boards overseeing offshore activity in Newfoundland and Nova Scotia require helicopter operators bidding on contracts to supply emergency floatation systems, which keep the helicopter frame from sinking, and emergency underwater breathing apparatus for each passenger. But with interest in offshore drilling expected in Canada’s arctic and Northern B.C., the proposed changes would be mandatory across the country.
“The safety of passengers and crews of Canadian offshore operations flights cannot be left to reactive contractual obligations,” says the gazette.
The regulations would apply to offshore drilling flights, sea-pilot transfer flights and search and rescue. Failure to comply would be met with a fine of $3,000 for individuals and $15,000 for corporations.