Our Core Operating Principle
At Summit Helicopters, nothing is more important than the safety of our people and passengers. For more than a decade, we’ve built our culture around that commitment.
Our aircraft and teams operate to the highest industry standards, supported by comprehensive training, strong operational discipline, and a culture of continual safety improvement. As a Basic Aviation Risk Standard (BARS) GOLD, Summit Helicopters is qualified to operate to a wide range of aviation standards.
Our strong safety culture is strengthened by our position as a subsidiary of the Ledcor Group of Companies, one of North America’s most diversified construction companies. As a member of Ledcor’s Transportation Division, we operate within a culture of collaboration and innovation made up of experts across many fields, united by a shared commitment to safety, quality, and client satisfaction.
Corporate Commitment
We are committed to operating in a manner that safeguards our employees, clients, and the communities we serve. To ensure the highest standards of safety, integrity, and reliability, it is our policy to:
Operate and maintain our aircraft and facility assets in a responsible manner, placing a strong emphasis on safety and health.
- Comply with Transport Canada Regulations.
- Comply with applicable safety and health laws
- Implement recognized industry health and safety guidelines and apply prudent standards where regulations do not exist.
- Anticipate, recognize, and evaluate safety and health risk factors that potentially affect employees, customers, contractors, or the public, and implement appropriate measures to control, minimize, or eliminate such risks.
- Work with our people so that they recognize safety and health risks.
- Continually measure and improve our safety and health performance and provide resources to support our safety targets.
Safety In Practice
Summit Helicopters proudly established a Safety Management System (SMS) in 2009. The SMS is voluntary and exceeds Transport Canada regulatory requirements.
Our SMS enables us to:
- Identify and prevent unsafe actions
- Initiate and track corrective actions
- Continuously monitor and evaluate operational performance
The components of our SMS system include:
- Reactive Reporting
- Proactive Reporting
- Investigation & Analysis
- Risk Management & Assessment
- Corrective Action Plan Review
- Trend Analysis
In addition to our Safety Management System, we conduct safety audits with Transport Canada and with current and prospective clients to continually improve our processes and practices. We also maintain a mandatory Drug and Alcohol Program that includes pre-employment, random, and post incident testing.
Flight Management System – Cirro
Summit Helicopters is a proud user of Cirro, a Flight Management software that we use in several different aspects of our safety operations. Built by pilots and operators, Cirro automates the compliance process of flight planning, following and managing, ensuring that everyday operations run smoother than they would with a paper trail. This includes:
- Flight itinerary planning and an additional Flight Risk Assessment tool, allowing the pilot to plan for every stage of the flight and documenting relevant information such as cargo and passenger weight, fuel load, routes plans and more
- Flight following for satellite tracking, real-time locations, system alerts and Search & Rescue feature
- Flight reports and duty time tracking to ensure that Transport Canada regulations were met and flight details are documented and signed by the client
Read more about Cirro’s capabilities here.
