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Title: Keep Your Eyes on the Hook! NOTE: (All on-screen text is blue / all transcriptions of interviews are in black) START VIDEO 1) (TEXT AND VOICE-OVER) 2) This is not a safety-training program and is only intended to be used with the participation of a ground crew safety officer, trainer or other qualified personnel. 3) All training and refresher courses must be done in accordance with federal and provincial regulations and the Canada Labour Code. -------------------------------------------------------- 4) Bryce Fisher 5) “Helicopters are versatile machines. Nowhere is this more evident than in long lining and external load operations. While most people are aware of the danger with helicopter rotors, long lining and external load operations have their own set of hazards, especially for ground crew. 6) The purpose of this video is to sensititize ground crews to the hazards of working around and under helicopters. We talked with those involved in the industry. Here is what they have to say.” 7) A typical day at the office... -------------------------------------------------------- 8) Keep your eyes on the hook! 9) Helicopter External Load Operations Ground Crew Safety -------------------------------------------------------- 10) St. Jacques Island, N.L. 11) One member of a Canadian Coast Guard ground crew gets tangled in helicopter long line straps while disengaging fuel drums 12) Michel Raymond 13) When the helicopter come with the barrels, when it (the external load) touched the ground it release the tension on the barrels and on the straps... And we just grab the straps this way, and we make it loup like that. I grab them (the straps) with my hands and I signal the pilot that he can go, when everybody is clear. I probably step back a bit and my foot left the ground this way; and in stepping back, with the down draft of the chopper, the straps on the ground did that (blew around his boots) and caught me like that (tightened around the toe of the boot and pulled him off the ground). 14) When I took off I went straight between the two ramps (tailgate ramps to drive a vehicle onto a flatbed truck). The guys on the side, they were fishermen from Newfoundland, and they tried to catch me when I was going up but they missed me. And I was happy they missed because we would be three guys on one rope and one foot. (Laughs) That was not a good solution. 15) I say well, what can I do now. And then I thought about my radio - where is it, where is it? And then I did that (found the cord and looked back) and I saw it was doing that. So I grab it this way, and then I contact the pilot. And I took my time because I don’t want him to drop me. So I say “hello Bob”. He say “yes Michel?” “Can you put me down on the ground please? 16) So he looked down and he couldn’t see me. So he slow down and he saw me passing (swinging) by underneath. Well I was about 200 or 250 feet in the air. After that the helicopter went down slowly and he dropped me on the ground. And I was lucky I wasn’t hurt at all. 18) I stepped back just maybe to be sure I was clear and that was the mistake, but I never thought the straps would fly away like that. 19) When things go wrong, stay calm, don’t panic... 20) There are situations that you can’t avoid. I think the key is stay calm and try to do the right things at the right time. That’s for sure sometimes it doesn’t work. I did almost everything right but I get caught. So after that you have to stay calm and do the right thing next - because if you panic, you’re done. 21) Prepare the site... 22) Michelle Polack 23) We’re a three-person, remote access, Heli-Attack fire fighting crew. So we work on a lot of the smaller fires and there’s lightning strikes and all that kind of stuff. 24) Ok - There’s a lot of different things we look at when we get to a site. Safety of course is our first priority. The first thing we do to prepare a site is - when we get on the ground we’re obviously looking to make sure we’re down slope of the fire and there’s a couple of escape routes set out - not one but two, so that if something happens, we have to do a medi-vac for whatever reason, that we have those escape routes set up. 25) It’s important to clear a site. We’re looking for holes in the canopy... just to make sure there’s enough room so the helicopter pilot can see a ground crew, that communication stays open... 26) When you come into a place, what happens is any loose branches or debris that is floating around on the ground.... whether that’s anything from flagging tape to loose branches... has potential of getting sucked up into the helicopter, into the rotors and causing considerable damage to the helicopter as well as jeopardizing the safety of the ground crews and the pilot. Flagging tape, lunch boxes, you know, water bottles - all that stuff has to be properly stowed and dealt with ... 27) Also when we’re on the ground we’re looking for hazzards to ourselves... so we’re looking for any danger trees. So we’re looking for widow makers, large branches or limbs hung up in trees, any loose roots on the ground - snags - We want to make sure all that stuff is cleaned up because of course safety is our first priority. 28) Have a safety briefing with the pilot... 29A) Yea - the first thing we do before we get into a helicopter is of course we sit down with a pilot and we go over hand signals. Hand signals vary from pilot to pilot, helicopter-company to helicopter-company - just so everybody is on the same page so there are no mishaps with long lining and nobody gets hurt and everybody plays safe. 29B) Paul Williams 30) (Pilot: - hand signal gesturing...) 31) (Signaler - giving directions) 32) Always wear high-visibility clothingand other safety gear... 33) Brent Brooks 34) With long lining, our main safety focus is visibility and communication... Just so the pilots are aware of where the individual is and all other people working around that guy, and in the landing (where the logs come in) , where our ground crew has high viz gear and they’re easily identified. Same with the hill guys (they work on the mountain tops). 36) We use not only radio communication but we also use hand signals... We waive our hand over our head and the pilot is looking down at us and that’s telling him to lower the hook... And then when you give a wave like this, he knows the hook is ready for ya, and that’s when you put the chokers in. (Cables that tighten around a tree as the helicopter hauls them up) 37) And then you walk out of the away and get in the clear. You tell him on your radio that you are clear. And then he gives you the signal that he is going to start pulling on the turn. 38) Good foot wear, good sharp caulks, ( special spikes on safety boots for surer footing on uneven surfaces) ) is another thing so we have good footing in the bush and on the ground here in the landing... So on the mountain and in the landing clothing has to be in good shape, so it doesn’t get caught on branches and stuff. 39) Establish a safe area... 40) Lucas St. Claire 41) Landing size (is important) for me since I work from a landing. Landing size is critical. Room to deck all the wood also and a good safe area for us to work in the corner... Put some cones out.... Establish a safety area for the pilots to see... Keep our heads up too. 42) From where they touch down, usually a turn and a half away (one and a half times the length of a log) is a good distance and stuff. Like they are putting them down over there - that is giving us basically the turn (as a safe distance away). 44) (Journalist) 45) (St. Claire:) 46) Have an escape route... 47) Daniele Resicini 48) Long lining is the biggest help to seismic (exploration) ever. Just because previously, before helicopters and long lines, this would all be dragouts. So all the seismic people would be muling (as in mule - hauling on their backs) this gear in. So long lining enables us to cut down on manpower, essentially reduce the risks of basically all personal injury. So the only risk of long lining would be right here at staging, (pick up point) hooking up bags. 49) All our bags are pre-packed from the last job. Then we just load them up on this hi-boy (flat bed trailer) just so we can get to our next job and be pretty much prepared to go. So all we gotta do is add in our special bags and we’re good. 50) I would say the first thing you wanna do is look up. You wanna see which way his bird is facing (helicopter) Wherever his 12 (o’clock) is, you want to be at his 9 (o’clock) or his 3. If you’re off at his 3 o’clock, then he’s got a visual of you no matter where you are, cause that is where the pilot usually sits. Always watch - as soon as you hook him up to something, take a look up, see where his bird is facing... And then step away. Just let him have his path. 51) And always have an escape route. You see it is somewhat cleared out there so I do have one escape route and where else? I can go up there see... Well we’ve got the back gate down here, and basically as soon I hook up the rack and I see which way he’s facing.... If he is facing that way then I know I’ve got my out (escape) right through here... 52) And if he wants to turn to the wind - (chuckles) you see that’s the nice thing - you got to feel where the wind is coming from too, right... Cause the bird will always be facing the wind, so I know almost every time that he’ll be heading out that way right now. 53) Because these batteries are pretty heavy, I’ll bring a truck over and load the batteries onto there and just put everything aside. Once it’s up on the deck then I’ll come up here, move all my equipment up that I need outa my path, so I can exit. I don’t want to be caught with him with a full load... 54) Watch the obstructions around your feet... 55) Cam Heitt 56) Well we need the long line to manoeuver our gear through the bush. It’s too much gear for the guys to pack (carry) through the bush so we put it in bags and drop it at separate locations throughout our line... Well you’ve got to keep your eye on that bag-runner at all times, make sure there are no obstructions around your feet, so you’re not tripping over ropes and what not that we hook up to the bag runner. 57) Make sure you are as quick and as safe as you can be to get that chopper on its way as soon as you can. I never really count seconds. I make sure it is done properly, the more you rush the more time (possibility) for errors. Just be aware of the surroundings around you... Gotta be on your toes... make sure you know where that bag runner is and have a little confidence in your pilot. 58) Be aware of static discharge... 59) (Daniele Resicini) 60) You must have a hard hat, obviously - the eye protection because of all the dust that gets kicked up, hearing protection because after awhile you will go deaf... And a certain few unsaid rules I suppose... Most of it is protocol but - when he (chopper) comes in usually if I feel it unsafe to grab it, just because of weather, perhaps clouds and all the static that might come off the gravel pit, then I will ask him to ground the bag runner. He will just basically set it right on this bed right here, and then as soon as I grab it it is pretty much gone (the static charge) and is good 61) Have I had a shock? Yea I have had a shock - it’s not too nice sometimes. How we do it? That is really the only way, is when he grounds that bag runner. Unless you think you are good to grab it you can grab it but you better hold on... It’s never really a big issue you know - Cause it’s once every thousand times maybe you’ll grab that bag runner, but for the most part he’ll ground it first. 62) Watch out for the empty hook... 63) Dave Weir 64) It’s called heli-portable seismic. So it is the exploration for oil and gas using explosive charges to read what is going on under the ground. The helicopter utilizes the long line to pick up the drilling equipment and place it where the drillers want their shots to be put in the ground and we bring it to them. 65) Using the external load window that we have we fly the helicopter from the left side, so we can actually hang our body out of the bubble window that you see there. We rest on our elbow and look straight down, and we can do vertical reference flying with the bubble window, and place the load basically where they want them. 66A) Just as far as a safety concern goes, often you know when the actual load is coming in, or leaving the drop zone, is when people pay the most amount of attention. If you’re bringing a load in, and place the load on the ground, and release the load; at that point usually people think that whatever hazard is going on is over. And often the empty hook is kinda more hazardous than people make it out to be. 66B) So it can float through the drop zone and hit somebody in the head or it can actually come up and snag a branch on the way up and rip the branch right off which would then fall and hit somebody. Or even if there is multiple people in the drop zone and one person responsible for hooking the load, and the other people aren’t paying attention to what the empty hook is doing as it comes in. And it can swing around in the drop zone and hurt people. 67) Have one person on the radio with the pilot... 68) Dan Eddy 69) Oh you have to have one guy on the radio for sure - that is a must... Things happen on the ground that the pilots can’t see... There has to be one guy on the radio in communication with the pilot to let him know what’s going on - that is really important. 71) The load comes down and sits on the ground. I’ll be pulling the rope down. My partner’s on the radio in communication with the pilot. It works so well. The main thing I stressed before is communication with the pilot - that is top priority. 72A) (Simultaneously we hear this the same time as the above interview) ...fifteen... ten... five... four... hold... Down... three... two... one... on deck... hold - we’re going to send some chokers back... Ok you’re clear... 72B) Dave Laitinen 73) Never walk under the load... 74) Ron Nicholson 75) This is a heli-portable drop zone here, and basically what you see here - this little bit of a slope on it here and as the helicopter brings it in we’ll always kinda stay off to the side from the side that the helicopter will bring it in. In this case he will be bringing it in from this direction over here. 76) So we’ll kinda stay off to the side here.... And always uphill from where the drill is going to be in case there’s a problem when it comes off the long line or what not. And, just pretty much keep an eye on the load at all times and... You can’t take (it)for granted... You may have done it a thousand times but nothing can be taken for granted. 77) And if you have the luxury of a larger tree, maybe putting your back to it, if you can... at the same time keeping in mind to give yourself an escape route, just in case of deadfall - if the wind blows anything down. And this is one of our biggest dangers - that load - never - number one - never walk under that load when the helicopter is bringing it in. Yea safety is the number one issue for sure. Everything else is secondary. 78) Take your time - Don't rush... 79) Rob Gallagher 80) I’ve been under the machines when our crews are flying them and to me it’s like a war zone... It’s typically loud, there’s heavy equipment over top of you all the time. It’s a very, very dangerous environment, and people need to be vigilant about that environment. In repeat heavy-lift whether your logging or seismic, or any of those repeat heavy-lift jobs, it’s amazing the complacency that can happen with crews on the ground. 81) We stress to both the flight crew and the ground crew, it’s not a walk in the park out there. You’re working a very dangerous environment. You have to stay on your toes at all times. 82) A typical reaction to that environment is for people to rush. We tell our flight crews to remind the ground crews on the radio that if they start to see a trend happening where guys are rushing, forgetting things, remind them that we are here to play safe first and still continue the job. Remind them to slow down and take the time to do it properly. 83) Inspect equipment dailyfor damage or wear... 84) Matthew Cooper 85) We go through a line every day. We have to do a daily inspection on this assembly just like the aircraft. 86) (Journalist) 87) (Matthew) 88) This stuff - it will pull it right apart. Well you check through the shackle area, and all the mounting assemblies. You look at all the suspension points, make sure nothing is cracked or obviously damaged. 89) This is the main suspension bolt here. The eye of the spector comes through here. And if any of this is damaged, you swap it out with your other line and attend to this one. Same at this end... This is your main eye up at the top. You look for deformities and wear. You check out your electrical connections. 90) Prepare site for downwash... 91) Bill Yearwood 92) Yea another example of things that the ground crew should be really aware of is the force of the down wash. They should be aware of debris. And when I say debris I don’t mean just little bits of dust and cardboard and stuff lying around... (I mean) down wash from a helicopter trying to lift close to 10,000 pounds. 93) It (the helicopter) is up around 22,000 pounds. It’s like a hurricane, so if you can imagine what would blow around in a hurricane, that’s what you can imagine and what you should be prepared for when you are preparing a site and make sure that stuff is not coming at you. 94) Know the first aid procedures... 95) Brad Vardy 96) Part of your operational briefing should be first aid and what you are going to do in the event of an accident or an injury. You need to know the location of all your first aid equipment on the site, who is qualified to give first aid on the site, who you are going to contact in the event of an accident - what agency - what medical facility... 97) Inspect the cargo net after use... 98) Mitchell Smith 99) The first thing we will check is to make sure they’re (cargo nets) not wet. If they are wet we will hang them up to dry before we put them away. Second we will check to make sure there are no rips and tears in the webbing - ah... Small tears we can repair. If a lot of the webs are ripped we will have to send it back to the manufacturer and he’ll repair it for us. 100) I check all the connections where the hooks go on... This particular one can be unscrewed but this one is tight... I look at all the other hooks to make sure the keepers are in good shape... I look at) just sort of general condition. 101) The Special Challenges of Winter 102) Bob Whittle 103) Winter conditions... you’re dealing with wind chill, first of all. Even on bright sunny days there’s a wind chill factor to consider. Slippery conditions... ice, snow, 104) Static discharge in winterIs especially intense... 105) Captain Michael McNulty 106) If you are doing long lining in snow, (what to watch out for) it’s static electricity... Nobody wants to hang on to a load when it is just a few feet off the ground and get zapped. So there is more attention paid to grounding the load. Then once it is grounded you can pick it up and slide it into position without any problem. I’ve seen a person knocked right off a load unconscious.... they fell right off the top of a sling load to the ground... and it was the static charge that caused it. 107) Pack down snow in the drop zone... 108) (Rob Gallagher) 109) Watch for frostbite... 110) (Rob Gallagher) 111) Manage the risk... 112) (Brad Vardy) 113) (It’s) very important that you keep your eyes on the load or the empty hook at all times when you are a ground crew member. 114) Stay aware and fight complacency... 115) Geoff Goodyear 116) We’ve covered a lot of the specific points, so rather than belabour those, the only thing I can do is reinforce (what’s been said), to stay very aware. And I hate to overuse that word but complacency is a terrible thing, particularly with crews who are veterans, or who have been on the job a long time on any given day... 117) (Don’t think) that it’s worked fine for the past fifty pick-ups... there’s no reason why it should be any different for the fifty-first. Well every time you start a new pick-up operation, all the hazards that were there with number one are there with number fifty-one, and that’s the reason why you have to stay aware all the time. 118) REPEAT OF ON-SCREEN TEXT SEEN THROUGHOUT VIDEO - SOME WINTER REFERENCES LEFT OUT. A) Watch out for the empty hook.. B) Take your time—Don’t rush... C) Have an escape route... D) Inspect the cargo net after use... E) Never walk under the load... F) Be aware of static discharge... G) Static discharge in winteris especially intense... H) Prepare the site... I) Establish a safe area... J) Ensure equipment is working properly... K) Prepare the site for downwash... L ) Watch the obstructions around your feet... M) When things go wrong, stay calm, don’t panic... N) Have a safety briefing with the pilot... O) Have one person on the radio with the pilot... P) Know the first aid procedures... Q) Wear proper safety equipment... R) Inspect equipment daily for damage or Wear... S) Stay aware and fight complacency T) Manage the risk… -------------------------------------------------------- 119) Ronald Moors 120) Cory Moss 121) (Ronald) 122) (Cory) 123) (Ronald) 124) I guess what am I looking at when I get there Bob? 125) (Bob Whittle) 126) (Ronald) 127) (Bob) 128) (Ronald) 129) (Bob) 130) (Ronald) 131) (Bob) 132) (Ronald) 133) (Bob) 134) (Ronald) 135) (Bob) 136) (Ronald) 137) (Bob) 138) (Ronald) 139) (Bob) 140) (Ronald) Ok... And that’s only once we have the load safely on the ground. 142) (Ronald) 143) (Bob) 144) (Ronald) 145) (Bob) 146) (Ronald) 147) What I will want you to do is depart back to the safe area, which we’ve already briefed, by the load, and the other guys will follow you, right? One thing to remember is that even though I have asked you to get away from the aircraft, always be aware of where the aircraft is... And I’ll want you to exit out the front of the aircraft. 148) (Bob) 149) (Ronald) 150) (Bob) 151) (Ronald) 152) (Bob) 153) (Ronald) 155) For questions or information regarding safety issues and regulations in the workplace, please refer to the following sources… 155) Aviation Occupational Health and Safety Regulations http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/L-2/SOR-87-182/index.html 156) Canada Labour Code, Part ll http://laws.justice.gc.ca/en/L-2/248827.html 157) And the appropriate provincial government labour authorities (CREDIT ROLL) 158) Produced by Navigator Communications Written and Directed by Sandy Durocher Transport Canada wishes to express their Abitibi Helicopters Ltd.
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