Union calls for inquiry into safety

Offshore union RMT is repeating its call for a full public inquiry into North Sea helicopter safety through an emergency motion at the STUC conference.

The union said such an inquiry is essential due to the “ongoing decline in offshore workers’ confidence” in the safety of offshore helicopter operations.

Over the past decade 33 people have died in incidents involving Super Puma helicopters in UK and Norwegian sectors of the North Sea.

Fourteen oil workers and two crew died when a Bond Super Puma plunged into the water off the Aberdeenshire coast on April 1 2009.

An Air Accidents Investigation Branch (AAIB) probe into the crash found that the aircraft suffered a “catastrophic failure” of its main rotor gearbox, while a fatal accident inquiry (FAI) in 2014 found that the tragedy might have been avoided.