Networking Event Review

Critical risk – with Cantbury West Coast air resucre

11 October 2023

A Charter networking event was held on Wednesday 11^th October, at the Bealey Hotel. The evening featured a presentation from Dan McPherson and Scott Mears, a pilot and paramedic from Canterbury/West Coast Air Rescue.

The presentation featured many real-life examples of rescues they had performed, and the challenges which had to be overcome. The question session at the end went on for an extended period. Interestingly, one of the audience members had been rescued recently by the crew when he broke his leg on a tramp.

The two big takeaways for me were how much training and preparation they do around high-risk activities, so that the things which we might perceive as very dangerous are business as normal to the crews.

The second takeaway was that a lot of the training involves simulation in a controlled environment, so that the crew are not actually exposed to the risks while they learn how to mitigate them.

Both ideas have real world applications for health and safety managers and representatives, in that training is an essential component of health and safety management, and that any work that can be done in a controlled environment or pre-fabricated is a safer way to work.

The Safety Charter presented Scott Mears with a donation.