'I think we deserve the assurance'

Stan Hussey told the Wells Inquiry into offshore helicopter safety Tuesday that a poorly fitting survival suit can be a dangerous thing.

He said an oversized suit proved dangerous for Robert Decker, the sole survivor of the March 12 helicopter crash that killed 17 people.

Decker was hypothermic when he was rescued after 75 minutes in the water.

"We know that Mr. Decker ... supposedly had a suit that was too big for him and that's why he took on so much water, and that's why his core temperature went down so low," said Hussey, co-chairman of the occupational health and safety committee on the Terra Nova production ship.

Decker's body temperature dropped to 28 C, nine degrees below normal.

Hussey wants to be sure the survival suits worn by offshore workers during helicopter flights will actually help them survive in the frigid North Atlantic.

"I think we deserve the assurance," said Hussey, who works for offshore contractor Crosbie Salamis.

He was one of the nine per cent of offshore workers who didn't have a properly fitting suit when sized following the helicopter crash.

He now wears a customized HTS1 suit, which was certified late last year.

"I find it to be 100 per cent better," he said.

Hussey will get a chance to test that suit in simulated offshore conditions this week at a facility in Nova Scotia. There, he will see how much water gets into the suit.

"We'd like to know that we can survive for the four, or five, or however many hours that we may be there waiting, because I believe that we have every right and deserve to have the best protection possible," he said.

"It's at a point now where just telling us that ... this works doesn't cut it for most people."

Hussey was one of three union representatives appearing before the inquiry Tuesday. The Communications, Energy and Paperworkers (CEP), Local 2121, represents workers at the Hibernia and Terra Nova oilfields.

Brian Murphy drove home the concerns of offshore oil industry workers, saying they deserve every chance to survive a helicopter that ditches in the ocean.

Vice-president of CEP, Local 2121, Brian Murphy has been an electrical technician aboard the Terra Nova production ship for more than six years.

He said the Newfoundland offshore industry needs the same dedicated search and rescue response (SAR) time as the North Sea - 15 minutes to get a rescue helicopter airborne.

"Our offshore industry workers are entitled to as much protection as the workers in the North Sea."

In Newfoundland, the DND search and rescue response time is 30 minutes between 8 a.m. and 4 p.m. on weekdays only. It's two hours at all other times.

Cougar Helicopters, which is contracted by the oil companies to provide SAR services, must be in the air in one hour, or less.

Murphy praised the Cougar SAR crew who rescued Decker on March 12.

"We believe that full 24-7 coverage with the most capable aircraft with full, all-weather capability is best provided by DND.

"If the coverage is to be industry provided, then it must be a dedicated airframe with dedicated SAR crews with greater opportunities for training and training to enhance optimum response time."

For many offshore workers, Murphy said, a big problem is the lack of control over their own safety during helicopter travel to and from the oilfields.

"When it comes to our transportation, we're at the mercy of the operators, the providers, in this case Cougar, and the manufacturer, in this case Sikorsky, TSB, CNLOPB, Transport (Canada) - all the regulatory bodies. We have to depend on those guys to keep us safe in these choppers," he said.

"When it comes to our transportation, we basically suit up, strap in and come what may."

The CNLOPB is the Canada-Newfoundland and Labrador Offshore Petroleum Board, which regulates the province's offshore oil industry. The Transportation Safety Board, or TSB, is investigating the cause of the March 12 crash.

Murphy told the Wells inquiry offshore workers face on-the-job hazards every day and they have a strong safety culture.

"All of us offshore understand the hazards that are inherent in the career that we chose. But we have a great deal of control over our working environment and ... in minimizing the dangers that we face every day," he said.

"We have the ultimate control of what we do and how we do it - but not with the choppers."

Murphy also said the likelihood of a helicopter ditching in the ocean has "increased significantly" since the March 12 crash.

If problems occur with the helicopter's main gearbox, he said the current procedure in response is a controlled ditching.

"It has been our understanding that this is the way this is going to work," he said. "Given that, we want every possible impediment to survival and rescue removed."

One impediment, he said, is the auxiliary fuel tank that is housed in the helicopter's passenger cabin.

"It's uncomfortable to even talk about, but if I'm in a situation where I'm in that airframe and it's in the water and it's upside down and I'm struggling for survival to get out, I don't want anything in my way."

A training expert with the Marine Institute testified in November that it would be "difficult, if not impossible" for someone sitting next to the auxiliary fuel tank to escape from the window of a submerged helicopter.

The tanks have since been moved to the right side the helicopter - across the aisle from the nearest seat. Cougar officials have also said the auxiliary fuel tank is necessary to fly greater distances offshore.

Murphy an external tank should be used on offshore helicopters, if one is available.

In the case of one worker who refused to fly because of the auxiliary fuel tank, Murphy quoted from a CNLOPB decision that said, "upon investigation of the work refusal and recognizing that there are inherent risks associated with travel by helicopter, the inclusion of an auxiliary fuel tank does not result in an unacceptable increase in risk."

Offshore workers see it differently.

"We see it as a risk - and any risk at all to me, if I'm going down in one of those airframes, it's not acceptable," said Murphy.

He also pointed to studies done in the North Sea that show survival rates for helicopter ditchings at night are far worse than daytime ditchings.

"Even in a controlled ditching situation, there are studies that show that the fatality rate will be around 15 per cent - in the daytime.

"The same studies tell us that (in) a controlled ditch at night the fatality rate increases to in the 40-per-cent-range, closer to 50 per cent."

Inquiry commissioner Robert Wells later told Murphy his own research turned up the similar information.

Murphy said offshore night flights should be restricted to emergencies only.

Sheldon Peddle, president of CEP, Local 2121, said he'd like to see a more formalized process to deal with the "free flow of information" about helicopter incidents that occur offshore.

A telecommunications technician aboard the Hibernia platform, Peddle has worked offshore for 13 years.

He said once the occupational health and safety committees deal with helicopter transportation issues, in which they have no expertise, "there's nowhere really to go.

"The (offshore) board doesn't seem to have any expertise ... they don't have anybody versed in aviation matters, and I don't know if they should or not.

"But once the issues go to them, there doesn't seem to be any kind of regime in place, or mechanism to implement change," Peddle said.

Aviation is regulated by Transport Canada - and Peddle called the regulations for offshore helicopter transportation inadequate.

He pointed to the U.K. North Sea oil and gas industry, which plays an active role in developing offshore transportation regulations set by the Civil Aviation Authority.

"There are ... set requirements, for instance, for flotation on their helicopters."

Floats give helicopters additional stability following a controlled ditching in the water.

Officials with Cougar Helicopters told the inquiry last week its aircraft will get extra emergency floats by June or July, and installation will take about 10 days.

The inquiry resumes today with presentations from the families of three offshore workers killed in the March 12 crash.

mbaird@thetelegram.com