Safety Flash
Near miss during helicopter operations
Near miss during helicopter operations
- IMCA
- Safety Flash
- IMCA SF 03/20
- Helicopter and AviationHuman Factors
- Human factors
- Helicopter operations
- Helicopter
- Exclusion zonesHuman-centred designPre-use checksSafety communication
- Helideck
Summary
A crew member removed a helideck access chain during helicopter boarding and passed beneath the tail rotor despite a shouted warning. No injury occurred. The flash examines passenger judgement, access supervision and ineffective readiness checks, and recommends clearer boarding routes, passenger briefings and consideration of human factors in safety-system design.
Classifications: Human factors; human performance; ergonomics.
Classifications: Helicopter operations; offshore aviation; rotary-wing operations.
Classifications: Helicopter; rotorcraft.
Classifications: Exclusion zones; red zones; restricted access zones.
Classifications: Human-centred design.
Classifications: Pre-use checks; pre-use inspection.
Classifications: Safety communication; toolbox talk; toolbox talks.
Classifications: Helideck; helicopter landing deck.
Summary
During helicopter flight boarding, a member of the crew crossed a hard barrier (stairway access chain) with a restriction sign and approached the flight deck from the aft stairway while boarding activities were ongoing on the forward side.
IMCA SF 03/20. Themes: helicopter and aviation, human factors.