News
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.

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.

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. Advertisement

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.”

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.