Safety

Zero Accidents. Zero Harm to People.

Bullseye on Safety Success

For Bristow employees, Target Zero is not bound by the walls of our offices or bays in our maintenance hangars or the cockpits of the aircraft we fly daily; it extends beyond our workplace, into the homes and communities of our employees. Bristow employees carry the Target Zero philosophy wherever they go, not simply because they are at work. It is in our DNA.

Bristow’s innovative and industry-leading safety program, Target Zero, is all about ensuring there are zero accidents and zero harm to people. The program is the primary core value of our culture and a strong component of our reputation and brand among our stakeholders.

Our global network of employees, customers and contractors are committed to flight safety, ground safety, personal health and environmental stewardship. A safe culture depends on more than leadership; it’s also a function of structure and processes. We have created a culture of safety because of our focus on all three elements.

This commitment extends outside of the company as we are one of the five founding members of HeliOffshore, an association of offshore helicopter companies committed to safety.

Cutting Edge Aviation Leaders

Latest Technology, Industry Leading Safety Practices

We believe that safety is an investment in our people and the environment. Bristow's established four core safety behaviors that can be applied in a variety of situations to help employees work safely. The four core safety behaviors are Pause and Reflect, Choose Safe Outcomes, Report and Share Lessons and Stop Work. The application of these core safety behaviors during daily activities, demonstrates our individual commitment to Target Zero.

Investing in the newest safety management system, personnel training, robust operating processes and new generations of helicopters equipped with the latest technology and safety equipment sets us as an industry leader that many companies follow. Bristow’s BeSAFE program integrates safety management capabilities for aviation safety, investigative management and risk management into a centralized system. In addition, BeSAFE allows for mobile reporting and improves transparency to the actions that have been taken for each safety report.

Our fleet maintenance program utilizes “smart” toolboxes for total tool control and Health and Usage Monitoring Systems program (HUMS) to detect early stages of component degradation and pre-fatigue. We were first to obtain approval by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) of our Flight Operational Quality Assurance (FOQA) program to routinely collect and analyze data recorded in flight to better enhance and standardize daily flight operations.

Collaborating for Safe Practices

HeliOffshore

With more than 120 members representing all sectors of the offshore industry, HeliOffshore is a global association focused on improving safety standards in the offshore helicopter industry. HeliOffshore was founded by five leading helicopter-services operators (Bristow among them), and membership is open to any enterprise with a stake in offshore flight and a commitment to making it even safer. Working with experts from member companies, the group shares best practice, provides a forum for collaborative exchange of information and facilitates training. The core areas of its safety focus are on system reliability and resilience, operational effectiveness, enabling safety and survivability.

More about HeliOffshore

Securing the Future in Helicopter Standards

Partnering with Worldwide Leaders

Since the early ‘50s, we have led the helicopter transportation industry on safety improvements that benefited the entire offshore transportation industry.

First to develop and field HUMS for North Sea helicopters

We partnered with GEC-Marconi. HUMS became an industry standard for military, commercial and civil aviation; and is required by the U.K. Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) for many applications in passenger transport helicopters.

First to develop, test and evaluate Helicopter Operations Monitoring Program (HOMP) for flight quality safety assurance

We partnered with CAA, Smiths Aerospace, Shell Aircraft and others. HOMP is now an industry standard in North Sea offshore transportation and is being replicated as FOQA and Helicopter Fight Data Monitoring (HFDM) for helicopters in the U.S. and elsewhere.

First to develop advanced analytical techniques, increasing the value of data derived from HUMS

We partnered with Smiths Aerospace.

First to develop and obtain FAA certification of an innovative, low cost, light-weight flight data recorder suitable for small helicopters

We partnered with Appareo Systems and that enabled routine, digital data collection and analysis by software called ALERTS.

First to develop and certify a Traffic-alert Collision Avoidance System (TCAS II) for large helicopters

We partnered with Rockwell-Collins. This created a new standard for collision avoidance safety in large helicopters.

First SAR operator globally to introduce dual-hoist winching systems to reduce the potential for failure during lifesaving missions

We implemented our dual-hoist winching system under the Bristow SAR contract with the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) of the UK Government.