Workers fight against night flights to rigs off Newfoundland coast
It's been more than three years since a helicopter crashed while taking offshore oil workers to a production platform off the Newfoundland coast. The crash into the North Atlantic killed 17 of the 18 people on board. The March 2009 accident still ripples through the province's oil sector as the union representing its workers questions safety of the flights that shuttle people to and from the rigs.
The Canadian Press reports that Local 2121 of the Communications Energy and Paperworkers union is challenging efforts by the oil companies to resume helicopter night flights. President Brian Murphy, whose local represents 600 workers at the Terra Nova and Hibernia offshore platforms, said night flights were restricted in 2010 for good reason.
The public inquiry into the crash found that the survival rate for those who end up in the sea at night falls to 40 per cent overall, about 30 per cent lower than in daylight hours.
Oil companies want the flexibility to fly at night, sometimes in the darkest winter months, to avoid backlogs caused by weather and other factors, CP reported.
But Murphy said his members are adamant against resuming such practices.
"The majority of the workforce is against flying at night because of the safety risk," Murphy told CP. "Statistics show that ditching at night has a higher fatality rate. Bar none, that's the biggest concern that the workers offshore have."
Even before issuing his final report in 2011, retired judge Robert Wells called for night flights to be restricted. The Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board ordered flights after dark and in low visibility limited until a rescue helicopter is placed on standby at St. John's whenever the trips are made.
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Since the inquiry, at least one standby search-and-rescue chopper has been available to respond to an emergency within 20 minutes instead of the previous limit of one hour.
"The improvements that have been made are great. They were a long time coming," Murphy told CP. "But this return to night flights, it just goes against the safety culture that's trying to be enforced out there in the offshore."
During the deadly crash on the morning of March 12, 2009, the Sikorsky S-92A owned by Cougar Helicopters ditched in the sea about 55 kilometres off St. John's. It floated for some time before plunging to the bottom of the North Atlantic. One survivor was rescued from the water. Of the 17 victims, all but one were found on board the sunken helicopter when the wreckage was recovered. The last body was found floating on the surface.
The Transportation Safety Board's investigation traced the cause of the crash to a broken part in the Sikorsky's transmission.
Murphy said night flights are used currently only for medical evacuations from the oil platforms.
The Canadian Association of Petroleum Producers, commenting on behalf of the oil companies working offshore Newfoundland and Labrador, said flying in the darkness is the exception.
"We do not currently fly at night," spokeswoman Jill Piccott said in an emailed statement to CP.
"However, there are times when weather or other issues impact the regular flight schedule. It is in these situations where the operator is looking to have the flexibility to fly at night."
Oil workers wear survival suits during flights that can keep them alive in the frigid waters for up to 24 hours. But Wells said in his report that night flights remain risky because of the difficulty in searching for survivors in the darkness.
"Asking passengers to fly at night adds considerable risk to that part of their work, which is already the riskiest," Wells wrote in his report, according to CP.
"Certainly, no person who objects to flying at night should be forced to do so as a condition of employment."
Murphy, who noted a decision on night flights is expected before the end of this year, said it's not clear if oil companies will allow workers to refuse night flights.