Bristow Invests £3.2m in Safety

State of the art Snap-on maintenance kit to be rolled out globally.

Bristow has introduced the latest tool-tracking technology to its maintenance teams as part of the company’s ongoing commitment to driving forward improvements in aircraft safety. The introduction of Snap-on Industrial’s new Automated Tool Control (ATC) system is the latest stage in the company’s safety investment of over £3.2m in state of the art Snap-on Tool Control Solutions.

The ATC Box is fitted with hi-tech camera technology which captures images of its contents, allowing the system to identify whether tools are present or not. This information is then displayed on a screen on top of the tool kit so that a maintenance engineer is constantly aware of the location of each tool. Tools are automatically issued and returned without user input and the activity from each toolbox is streamed across the company network giving administrators real time visibility of all tooling activity.

“Bristow is continuously looking to enhance safety and often it’s the introduction of new technology that can allow us to do that.”

Bristow has introduced the technology to the company’s bases in Aberdeen, Norway and the Gulf of Mexico and is in the process of rolling it out across all of its bases across the globe.

Alan Corbett, Director Europe Business Unit (EBU), said: “Bristow is continuously looking to enhance safety and often it’s the introduction of new technology that can allow us to do that. The concept behind the snap-on maintenance kit is a simple but effective one. It makes absolutely sure that maintenance engineers are aware of the location of their tools at all times and ultimately minimises the potential for human error.

“The industry has been looking for new ways to improve tool control for many years and this is a significant step forward. The technology has been successful in the bases where it has already been introduced and we look forward to rolling it out fully across our global operations over the next year.”

Bristow’s rigorous Target Zero safety program was introduced in 2007 and aims to help the company hit its target of zero accidents. Bristow was the first civil helicopter transport company to work in the oil and gas industry and over the years has developed a number of game-changing technologies to improve helicopter safety, including the traffic collision avoidance system TCAS2, IHUMS, and Sky Connect, which have gone on to be adopted by many leading aircraft manufacturers and competitors alike.

Alan Petrie, Regional Account Manager, Snap-on Industrial, said: “Over the past seven years we have worked closely with Bristow to provide technology to improve tool control, an important issue on the agenda of helicopter operators. I would like to thank the team at Bristow for making Snap-on Industrial their business partner of choice and I look forward to working with them in the future, helping provide solutions to drive forward their target zero program.”