This month our Aviation Working Group has released a new guidance document for Offshore Helicopter Passenger Travel Requirements and has released an updated revision of the Helicopter Landing Officer (HLO) Training Specification.

Offshore Helicopter Passenger Travel Requirements

Australian Energy Production Industry companies are mostly aligned in their requirements for travellers mobilising offshore by helicopter.  Alignment is close; however, it is not complete.

Traditionally, this has left some differences (most often minor in detail), which led to confusion and challenges for passengers who move between facilities (or companies) in their work. The lack of standardisation also adds complexity to offshore helicopter operators’ procedures, some of whom might provide services for more than one company in our industry.

Our Aviation Working Group has worked with stakeholders to develop a unified guidance document that contains agreed requirements for helicopter passengers travelling offshore.

This Safer Together document, in print-ready form, can be distributed electronically or in hard copy to passengers, vendors, helicopter operators and offshore facilities.

These Passenger Travel Requirements are intended for use primarily by WA/NT Australian Energy Production Industry companies, however all member companies in Safer Together are free to adopt it.

Follow this link for the guidance, along with all supporting collateral for implementation.

Helicopter Landing Officer (HLO) Training Specification

This Specification is designed to Standardise the approach to HLO training across Operators in our Industry, and details the requirements for HLO training including:

  • Enhancing the competence of all HLOs in the Industry to enable them to carry out their duties in the safest manner possible (thereby improving safety performance),
  • Defining the standard of safe working behaviour that is expected of all HLOs in the Industry; and
  • Driving consistency and cost efficiency in delivering relevant safety training to all HLOs in the Industry.

The purpose of this Specification is to detail the requirements for the content of HLO training to satisfy the above objectives.

Updates to V2.0 include the clarification of the regulatory guidance, and appendix updates.

HLO training is delivered in Australia by ERGT and Flight Safety Group.  It can also be accessed via any training provider that has a fully certified OPITO HLO training course.

Follow this link to download the Specification and supporting collateral for deployment.

For any further questions regarding these initiatives, get in touch with our Aviation Working Group at [email protected].