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BC Hydro wins Airbus Helicopters Innovation in Safety Award

This award is presented to a nominee or organization whose business initiatives have demonstrated a great impact on the overall goal of safe flying operations, including skill development, training and committing additional resources to safety programs. The winner, determined by an award selection committee, receives a $10,000 prize.

“Safety will always be our number one priority. We ensure this by honouring innovative safety practices which exemplify what the future of our industry should be,” said Romain Trapp, President and CEO, Airbus Helicopters Canada. “We applaud BC Hydro’s dedication to safe flying practices. These practices drive the industry forward in the field of safety and we are proud to recognize BC Hydro’s efforts through the presentation of this award.”

Supplying over 95% of the power to the province, BC Hydro’s mandate is to generate, purchase, distribute, sell and deliver power to meet BC’s electricity needs; the helicopter is a critical tool to support these efforts.

“We are honoured to receive this award and to be recognized for this work in making our use of helicopters as safe as possible for our employees, contractors and the public.” Said Greg Reimer, EVP of Transmission, Distribution and Customer Service at BC Hydro. “Safety is a core value in our business and I’d like to thank Airbus Helicopters Canada and all of our partners in aviation for supporting our efforts in helicopter safety.”

BC Hydro has earned a reputation across North America as having one of the highest standards for safety in rotary wing operations by implementing key mandates for safety. Key safety initiatives they have implemented include:

• Mandates the use of state of the art twin-engine aircraft with sufficient OEI capability to maintain flight on one engine.
• Performs pre-flight risk assessments on each and every trip its employees are involved in from routine powerline patrols to complex maintenance and repair activities.

In November 2015, BC Hydro participated in Airbus Helicopters’ Canada’s 2nd International Powerline Symposium in Vancouver where they shared their approach to safety with a wide variety of organizations involved in hydro operations.

The helicopter industry committee includes: Robert Erdos, Chief Experimental Test Pilot, National Research Council of Canada; Fred Jones, President and CEO, Helicopter Association of Canada; Matt Nicholls, Editor, Helicopters Magazine and Wings Magazine; and Mike Reyno, Photojournalist and Group Publisher, MHM Publishing.