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Helicopters Magazine Careers in Aviation
CHC raises the corporate safety bar
March 29, 2011 – The 7th annual CHC Safety & Quality Summit at Vancouver's Westin Bayshore Hotel got off to an electric start March 28, with three powerful opening presentations.
CHC
 
L to R: Tony Kern, Ph. D, CEO of Convergent Performance, LLC; Graham Brathwaite, Head, Department of Air Transport at Cranfield University; John Nance, Aviation Analyst from John Nance Productions. Photo by Paul Dixon.

 

Bill Amelio, president and CEO of CHC Helicopter, and Bill Chiles, president and CEO of Bristow Helicopters, used a bevy of examples and personal experiences to effectively build on the conference theme: Corporate Responsibility vs. Personal Accountability: Two Sides of the Same Coin.
CHC
 
L to R: Greg Wyght, VP of Safety and Quality, CHC Helicopter presents “talking sticks” to Bill Amelio, president and CEO of CHC Helicopter, and Bill Chiles, president and CEO of Bristow Helicopters. Photo by Paul Dixon.

 

Amelio stressed the need for corporations to build on essential pillars of talent, training, trust and develop safety mechanisms that resonate at all levels of the corporation – intrinsic elements that are at the heart of a company's culture. Chiles echoed the point and added that great leadership and integrity at a corporation does not rest with an individual, it’s a collaborative process that hits at the heart of a corporation – “When it becomes about me or you, you've got lost in the game,” he said. The keys to a successful implementation of a sound safety culture, said Chiles, are found in a psychological shift in corporate thinking that resonates from all levels of an organization – you need to make that “safety switch when you’re caring about your team – when they are caring about each other.”
CHC
 
Scott Shappell, Ph. D, Co-founder of HFACS, Inc. Photo by Paul Dixon.

 

CEOs must also live and breathe all aspects of a safety culture and that includes staying and participating in summits and meetings that are built on this premise – not getting up and leaving in the middle of the event...a point which so often seems to occur at events like this – the CEOs leave after their 45 minutes in front of the crowd are over, scurrying off to their next chore. Of course, both dynamic presenters took their seats and were ready to learn when their formal contributions were over.

Amelio and Chiles were followed by a rousing, fast-paced roundtable debating corporate responsibility vs. personal accountability. Panelists Graham Brathwaite, Head, Department of Air Transport at Cranfield University; Tony Kern, Ph. D, CEO of Convergent Performance, LLC; and John Nance, Aviation Analyst from John Nance Productions, were led by moderator Scott Shappell, Ph. D, Co-founder of HFACS, Inc., through a variety of topics including the role and value of an SMS program to an organization, compliance, employee engagement, corporate incentives and more.

Some great discussion ensued with more than 40 questions presented to the team from the more than 600 delegates in the room. It's was a riveting morning, the perfect beginning to one of the most dynamic and important events of the year.