“Your Partner in Flying to a Higher Standard”
The HAI Accreditation Program of Safety (HAI-APS) is a voluntary program that helps helicopter operators reduce accident rates and improve their safety cultures. Helicopter Association International (HAI), the trade association for the international helicopter community, developed HAI-APS to help participating businesses “fly to a higher standard” of safety and professionalism.
To become accredited, you will follow a two-track process:
First Steps in Becoming an HAI-APS Accredited Operator 1. Purchase the IS-BAO Standard at rotor.com/isbao ($1,200 USD for HAI members; $1,650 USD for nonmembers). You will receive a confirmation of your purchase once your HAI membership has been verified, and the standard will be mailed to you within five business days. 2. Review the IS-BAO standard. An HAI staff member will contact you within two weeks to make sure you have received the standard, answer any questions you might have, and talk about how HAI can help you get on the path to IS-BAO registration and HAI accreditation. Questions? Email hai-aps@rotor.com |
- Register under IS-BAO, a set of international standards for business aviation. This includes developing and implementing a safety management system. An audit is required to ensure that flight operations meet IS-BAO standards.
- Meet standards for mission-specific criteria developed by HAI. This step also requires a flight operations audit to verify that HAI criteria are being met.
Both the IS-BAO standard and the HAI mission criteria easily scale to operations large and small and are performance-based, allowing you maximum flexibility in determining how you reach the performance goals. HAI staff will mentor you through the process, suggesting next steps and helping to demystify the process.
You may choose to conduct the IS-BAO and HAI audits separately. However, HAI-APS auditors are certified in both types of audits and can conduct them simultaneously. To learn more about the accreditation process, see “The Path to HAI Accreditation.”
“These audits aren’t pass/fail tests,” says HAI Director of Safety Stan Rose. “HAI will go into the audit as a partner who is there to help the operator reach his goal of improved safety and risk management.”
“Safety First” isn’t just a poster and reducing your accident rate to zero — or preserving an already-good safety record — isn’t just a feel-good thought. Accidents have real consequences, for both people and businesses. As HAI President Matt Zuccaro has commented, “If you think safety is expensive, try having an accident.”