A 26-year comparative review of United Kingdom helicopter emergency medical services crashes and serious incidents

Chesters, Adam; Grieve, Phillip H.; Hodgetts, Timothy

doi:10.1097/ta.0000000000000170

Cited by 30 publications

(21 citation statements)

References 9 publications

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“…During late autumn and winter, our region has only 8 h of daylight and frequent storms and snow with low visibility. Helicopter flights at night and in low visibility are associated with a higher level of risk, and helicopter pilots follow stricter flight rules 7. Our proportion of canceled helicopter flights caused by bad weather are only slightly more than half of what Lawless et al reported, probably because of different helicopters, pilot experience, and local weather conditions 11.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Helicopter‐based emergency medical services for a sparsely populated region: A study of 42,500 dispatches

Østerås

Brattebø

Heltne

2015

Acta Anaesthesiol Scand

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BackgroundThe Helicopter Emergency Medical Service (HEMS) in Norway is operated day and night, despite challenging geography and weather. In Western Norway, three ambulance helicopters, with a rapid response car as an alternative, cover close to 1 million inhabitants in an area of 45,000 km2. Our objective was to assess patterns of emergency medical problems and treatments in HEMS in a geographically large, but sparsely populated region.MethodsData from all HEMS dispatches during 2004–2013 were assessed retrospectively. Information was analyzed with respect to patient treatment and characteristics, in addition to variations in services use during the day, week, and seasons.ResultsA total of 42,456 dispatches were analyzed. One third of the patients encountered were severely ill or injured, and two thirds of these received advanced treatment. Median activation time and on‐scene time in primary helicopter missions were 5 and 11 min, respectively. Most patients (95%) were reached within 45 min by helicopter or rapid response car. Patterns of use did not change. More than one third of all dispatches were declined or aborted, mostly due to no longer medical indication, bad weather conditions, or competing missions.ConclusionOne third of the patients encountered were severely ill or injured, and more than two thirds of these received advanced treatment. HEMS use did not change over the 10‐year period, however HEMS use peaked during daytime, weekends, and the summer. More than one third of all dispatches were declined or aborted.

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Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 55%

Helicopter‐based emergency medical services for a sparsely populated region: A study of 42,500 dispatches

Østerås

Brattebø

Heltne

2015

Acta Anaesthesiol Scand

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“…In this data-set, there has been a reduction of fatal accidents per million flight hours from the period 1982-1987 (level of fatal accidents: from 41 to 47) to the period 1987-2004 (level of fatal accidents: from 9.1 to 18). Based on our review we have seen a reduction of accidents in the later periods, and that there is a need for more standardized reporting of helicopter accidents to be able to compare results and learn from different countries, in line with the findings from [16].…”

Section: Accident Levelsmentioning

confidence: 56%

“…A full analysis of unwanted incidents and successful recoveries based on more instrumentation, such as video recordings, would have given a deeper understanding of incidents, but no such data have been identified. In general incident and accident data are of poor quality and should be improved, as mentioned by [16]. Continuous data transmission of "black box" data to the outside is also absent at present.…”

mentioning

confidence: 99%

Addressing Differences in Safety Influencing Factors—A Comparison of Offshore and Onshore Helicopter Operations

Bye

Johnsen

Lillehammer³

2018

Safety

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Abstract:The accident levels in helicopter transportation vary between geographical regions and types of operations. In this paper, we develop some hypotheses regarding the factors that may explain this variation. The aim of this paper is to improve safety in helicopter transportation through better understanding of the causes leading to fatal accidents. We provide an analysis of three segments of helicopter transportation in Norway (i.e., offshore transportation; onshore ambulance/police, and onshore transportation). This analysis refers to international research on helicopter accidents. The number of fatal accidents per million flight hours in Norwegian offshore helicopter transportation was 2.8 in 1990-1999 and zero in 2000-2015. In Norwegian onshore helicopter transportation, the fatal accident rate was 13.8 in the period 2000-2012. Twenty-three onshore helicopters crashed to the ground; seven of these crashes were fatal, killing 16 people. It is reasonable to question why there is such a significant difference in accident rates between offshore and onshore helicopter transportation. We have approached this question by comparing how the different segments of helicopter transportation are organized and managed. Our analysis shows that there are major differences both at the "sharp" end (i.e., in actual operations) and the "blunt" end (i.e., rules, regulations and organization). This includes differences in regulations, market conditions, work organization (i.e., training, employment conditions, and qualifications of the crews), operations and technology. A central argument is that differences in the market conditions and requirements stipulated by the users explain some of these differences. The same differences can be found internationally. If we use best practice and expert judgments, there is an opportunity to improve helicopter safety through improving the socio-technical system (i.e., organizational issues, improved design, improved maintenance of critical components and more focus on operational factors). A reasonable goal is that the international helicopter transportation industry could reduce the accident level to less than one fatal accident per million flight hours (Considering the oil and gas industry internationally, this would reduce the average of 24 fatalities annually to 4 per year, thus saving 20 lives each year).

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“…The authors have previously defined the composition, estimated activity and rate of crashes and serious incidents in the UK HEMS fleet, and compared it to published data from other countries 1. It is estimated that approximately 230 000 HEMS missions occurred in the UK between 1987 and 2013, with 13 accidents or serious incidents.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions and culture of safety among helicopter emergency medical service personnel in the UK

Chesters¹,

Grieve²,

Hodgetts

2016

Emerg Med J

Self Cite

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We have surveyed a cross-section of the HEMS operational community in the UK in order to describe their perceptions of safety and risk within their professional life. Two-thirds of respondents believed that HEMS operations were inherently safe. Those who did not seemed to be influenced by personal experience of a crash or serious incident. We support increased operational training for clinical crewmembers, an increased emphasis on incident reporting and a culture of safety, and careful attention to minimum training and equipment requirements for all HEMS missions.

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A 26-year comparative review of United Kingdom helicopter emergency medical services crashes and serious incidents

Cited by 30 publications

References 9 publications

Helicopter‐based emergency medical services for a sparsely populated region: A study of 42,500 dispatches

Helicopter‐based emergency medical services for a sparsely populated region: A study of 42,500 dispatches

Addressing Differences in Safety Influencing Factors—A Comparison of Offshore and Onshore Helicopter Operations

Perceptions and culture of safety among helicopter emergency medical service personnel in the UK

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