Mid West Helicopters Ltd

Management is committed to providing safe, healthy, secure work conditions and attitudes with the objective of having an accident – free workplace. The organisation’s CEO is committed to:

• On-going dedication to an accident – free workplace, including no harm to people, no damage to equipment, the environment or property.
• A culture of open reporting of all safety hazards in which management shall not show or initiate disciplinary action against any personnel who, in good faith, disclose a hazard or safety occurrence due to unintentional conduct.
• A culture of open reporting of all hazards.
• Support for safety training and awareness programs and hazard identification.
• Support for continuous professional development of employees.
• Conducting regular audits of safety policies, procedures and practices.
• Monitoring industry activity to ensure best safety practices are incorporated into the organization.
• Providing the necessary resources to support this policy.
• Requiring all employees to have the duty to maintain a safe work environment through adherence to approved policies, procedures and training, and shall familiarize themselves, and comply with safety policies and procedures.

All levels of management are accountable for safety performance, starting with the CEO. Mid West Helicopters is strengthened by making safety excellence an integral part of all activities.

As the world is aware safety is a topic spoken of every day and is certainly the primary topic for Mid West Helicopters NZ. We have embarked on a journey over the last twelve months to ensure we are one of the leaders around CAA’s new Safety Management Systems (SMS).

This we have done as a group while employing outside expertise to critique our progress. We are committed to all our employees and our clients to provide the safest practices available, the most robust training to all our staff and ensuring that they all are involved and enjoy our safety systems in a just culture. We have developed procedures and practices that can be done with ease while embracing the safety culture that is required within our industry. CAA have applauded our work to date stating that we have one of the best systems they have seen coupled with our positive attitudes, we at Mid West Helicopters endeavour to grow this and take to all our clients so that we all benefit.

Chris Smith is a highly dedicated and proficient Health and Safety expert with twenty-six years leadership and management experience.  Chris leads by example, inspires and motivates others with her enthusiam and strong commitment to a high quality of health and safety.  She is highly respected by her colleagues, who is vey approachable and promotes a positive influence through a high level of collaboration amongst co-workers in a team environment.  Chris has well-developed communication and problem-solving skills, with the ability to resolve difficult situations in a positive and constructive manner.  She understands the importance of listening, responding and following through.  All these qualities have proven her instrumental to the implementation of Mid Wests Safety Management System which has gained high praise from the CAA as the best they have been. Chris is our "Mumma Bear" figure and will do anything in her power to help anyone that needs it. Mid West Helicopters has adopted an electronic reporting system called IRIS which is well recognised in New Zealand and Australia and we believe we are leading the industry with this system. The directors of Mid West Helicopters have spared no expense around safety and have invested tens of thousands of dollars and will continue to do so ensuring our staff are not harmed along with our clients and customers.

In an industry that has seen over 160 deaths since its inception we are committed to change. One of our directors and pilots who a lot will know, Dean Lithgow, embarked on a national safety awareness campaign he set up personally “LETS GET EM DOWN” encouraging fellow farmers throughout New Zealand to remove or lower electric fence wires to make the environment safer for aviators. This not only cost him tens of thousands of dollars but it showed a commitment to safety in the two industries he was passionate about farming and aviation. Gaining the support of Richie McCaw and Greg Murphy was instrumental in the campaigns success to date and both men are committed to this cause.

So hopefully as you all can see the team at Mid West Helicopters want to encourage safety wherever we travel and involve you our valued customers and clients on our journey and let us all be leaders in this field.

The “LETS GET EM DOWN“  is an educational safety awareness campaign started and funded by Mid West Helicopters Pilot and farmer Dean Lithgow after the loss of a close colleague and friend Peter Robb, to encourage fellow farmers to remove all overhead electric fence wires and TV aerials from their properties to make it a safer environment for all aviators. The campaign was fronted by Richie McCaw and Greg Murphy and to have these two well known New Zealanders was crucial for the campaign to be recognised and become a success.

If you still have overhead wires please remove them before they destroy you and us.

We also put up large signs in our greater area and had the support of a local trucking company, Grange Transport, with the slogan KEEP US SAFE ON YOUR PLACE “wires “. We had over six hundred chiller bags made and distributed.